by RWX
……
Although he wasn’t quite familiar with the Terror Starsea, Hegemon Oldgem truly was a formidable figure when it came to travelling. It took him merely a century or so to arrive outside the Jadefire Realm.
“The Jadefire Realm. How beautiful.” Hegemon Oldgem stared at the enormous vortex of flames before them, each of the flames looking like the petal of a flower. “Supposedly, this was a nightmare for our people during the Dawn War. Many major powers were imprisoned in here, and all those who went inside perished.”
“Everyone, we’ve already collected quite a bit of information regarding the Jadefire Realm. Based on what we know, entering is easy but leaving is difficult.” Hegemon Dawnruler said in a cold voice, “Daolord Darknorth went in a fairly short while ago. I imagine he probably hasn’t been able to flee just yet. Shall we wait for him outside or shall we go inside?”
“Go inside of course,” Hegemon Azurefiend said, a glimmer of terrifying red light flashing in his eyes. “We were the first to arrive here. If we waste any time, Hegemon Fogsun’s realmship will probably arrive with another batch of Emperors. By then, we’ll have lost our first-mover advantage and it’ll be even harder to acquire the realmship. The more time we waste, the more Emperors will arrive and the more difficult things will become.”
“Right.” A bald, grim-looking red-robed man nodded slowly.
“I agree that we should all go in together right away as well,” a silver-haired elder with a stone sword on his back agreed.
Since the five Hegemons were all in occurrence, the other four Emperors simply exchanged glances but said nothing.
“Haha… what a pity! I hear that the most powerful figure in the Flamedragon Realmverse is Hegemon Brightshore. He should know quite a bit about this Jadefire Realm, but he wasn’t willing to tell us anything about it at all.” Hegemon Azurefiend chortled. “Still… we were able to accumulate quite a good amount of intelligence. It should be enough. The Jadefire Realm was shattered long ago and should no longer pose of much a danger to us. Come, come! Let’s go inside.”
Hegemon Azurefiend immediately transformed into a streak of light and flew inside.
“Let’s go,” Hegemon Oldgem said.
“All together now.”
“Let’s go.” The nine Emperors began to charge into the vast vortex of flames, either singly or in pairs. Soon, all of them had entered the Jadefire Realm.
“There are this many flaming passageways?” After entering the Jadefire Realm, the Emperors saw the countless flaming tunnels off in the distance.
“Which one should we choose?”
“We? Gentlemen, are we still planning to travel together? Haha, I’m more accustomed to moving by myself. I’ll go in first. If I’m the first one to find Daolord Darknorth, the realmship will be mine,” Hegemon Azurefiend laughed wickedly. He immediately charged into one of the flaming passageways next to him. He was the most powerful member of this group of Emperors and thus naturally wasn’t interested in working together with the others.
He refused to believe that he wasn’t able to kill a mere Daolord!
“Let’s go.” Hegemon Dawnruler scanned the area with his three eyes, then took a single step forwards and transformed into golden light that burrowed in a distant flaming passageway.
“Let it all be up to fate.” The bald, grim-faced man dressed in red robes revealed a hint of a smile as he flew into one of the flaming passageways as well.
“Brother Oldgem, let’s travel together?” the silver-haired elder with the ancient stone sword on his back asked.
“Let’s.” Hegemon Oldgem smiled. These two Hegemons flew towards one of the flaming passageways together. These two came from the same realmverse and were on extremely good terms with each other; if they acquired the realmship, they would share it. It wouldn’t really matter who owned it.
“The five Hegemons have all gone inside. We should go as well.” The four remaining Emperors exchanged glances. Soon, they formed into two squads of two which flew into the flaming passageways as well.
……
The hidden control region within the Jadefire Realm. Ning remained seated in midair above the altar, scanning the surrounding area with his gaze. The area around him manifested projections of the flaming passageways of the Jadefire Realm, as well as the nine figures making their way through those passageways. These nine figures had entered the Jadefire Realm together, then had separately entered different passageways. Ning had watched all of this carefully.
“Have they come?” Ning murmured softly, “This first batch is already putting me under quite a bit of pressure.”
* * *
Book 37, Chapter 14 - Bait
Since Ji Ning knew that a host of major powers was coming from the various realmverses for him, he had naturally acquired quite a bit of material and information on his foes. Hegemon Brightshore and Emperor Goldisle had been particularly helpful, introducing detailed information regarding the most famous Hegemons and extremely powerful Emperors of the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance to Ning.
Thus, when Ning ‘saw’ those nine figures appear through the formation-diagram, he was able to recognize them at one go.
“Five of these nine are Hegemons. Hegemon Oldgem and the Paragon of Swords are actually working together? They are all being extremely cautious.” Ning shook his head slowly. “Hegemon Dawnruler… Hegemon Everworry… hey, this should be Hegemon Azurefiend.”
Ning’s gaze focused upon the figure of the latter. Hegemon Azurefiend was flying carefully through the flaming passageways, his eyes glowing with cold light as he carefully scanned the area in front of him. Hegemon Azurefiend was even using a pair of rope-type magic treasures to scout the path ahead for himself.
“Supposedly, Hegemon Azurefiend is one of the several foreign Hegemons taking part in this escapade.” Ning carefully scrutinized Hegemon Azurefiend. Based on what he knew, there were differences in power between Hegemons; Hegemon Brightshore, for example, was the number one Hegemon of the Flamedragon Realmverse! Even in the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance, Hegemon Brightshore was powerful enough to rank in the top five.
But of course, there was no way to rank anyone in greater detail than that, as most of the Hegemons had never actually battled each other. Rough rankings could only be based on the performance they had shown in the past, which was why Realmslord Windgrace was acknowledged to be the absolute strongest. Next came the likes of Hegemon Brightshore.
Hegemon Windrain and Hegemon Netherlily were considered fairly ‘ordinary’ Hegemons in the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance.
“Hegemon Azurefiend is extremely famous! Supposedly, he was born a Chaos Godbeast and has a strange temperament. He’s extremely powerful and ranks highly even amongst Hegemons,” Ning mused. “Based on what the intelligence reports tell me, he should be even stronger than Hegemon Netherlily and Hegemon Windrain. He should be the strongest of the five Hegemons in this batch.”
In the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance, there were only a few figures capable of suppressing Hegemon Azurefiend in power! “Hegemon Azurefiend, eh?” Several thoughts flickered through Ning’s mind.
“I’ll feign weakness first. These five Hegemons only constitute a small percentage of the Hegemons who will be coming, after all. The only trump card I have up my sleeve is my control over the flaming passageways; once I reveal it, the Hegemons and Emperors who arrive later will only be even more careful. They might even all travel together. That’ll make things very troublesome for me,” Ning mused.
Only by feigning weakness could he lull his foes into underestimating him. Only then would his foes move independently on their own, as only when they felt that Ning was not a threat would they be truly concerned about competing agaist the other Hegemons. This would be of benefit to Ning.
“My control over the flaming passageways is a killer trump card. I have to save it for a moment of maximum effect. That’s my only shot at reversing the situation.” Ning’s gaze was focused on the nine illusory f
igures advancing through the countless passageways. Every single action they took was within his field of vision.
……
“This Jadefire Realm really is in terrible shape. A few mechanisms have appeared, but I was able to discover them all from afar.” Hegemon Azurefiend continued to fly forwards, two billion-kilometer sized ropes scouting the way up ahead for him.
“According to the legends, the Jadefire Realm was absolutely terrifying when intact. It’s very weak now. No wonder so many Emperors of the Flamedragon Realmverse were able to come in, scout the place, and then leave safely.” Hegemon Azurefiend shook his head and chuckled. He felt increasingly relaxed; things were much simpler than he had anticipated.
This place might be of danger to weaker Emperors, but he was an exalted Hegemon. How much of a danger could these damaged, unmanned traps and mechanisms possibly pose him?
“Daolord Darknorth, eh? You’ll definitely be mine. Heh heh… I’ll kill him and then take his realmship, allowing me to easily rove across the various realmverses. It won’t be as difficult as it is now.” Hegemon Azurefiend felt quite eager. He was a temperamental character, but was born liking to wander about by himself and adventure through the void.
Swoosh. Hegemon Azurefiend continued to advance at high speeds through the flaming passageways, using the many tools he had available to scout out the path ahead and avoid them with ease.
……
“This is easier than expected.” The bald, red-robed, grim-faced man strolled through the skies, his body emanating with gray light that illuminated the area ahead of him and laid bare all of the hidden dangers.
……
Each of the major powers felt as though the Jadefire Realm wasn’t as dangerous as they had thought. So long as they were careful, they would be able to advance with ease.
Time passed, one day after the other.
“Soon. Hegemon Azurefiend is the fastest; he’s about to go through the flaming passageway area and reach the prison region. It is time for me to make my own move as well. I can’t let them get into and explore the prison region.” Ning was still seated in the lotus position above the altar, but a streak of light suddenly flew out of his body, manifesting into a second ‘Ji Ning’ in the air. This was a divine power clone.
“Whitethaw, let’s go,” Ning barked.
“Alright,” Whitethaw said respectfully. Whoosh. Ning waved his hand, causing the ancient realmship to appear next to him. It was now in much better shape than it had been when Archon Silksnow had owned it. Ning and Whitethaw both entered the realmship, then quietly snuck away from the hidden region, leaving behind just the divine power clone inside.
Rumble… Ning’s divine power clone remained seated above the altar and the formation-diagram, using its Immortal energy to manipulate the formation-diagram and maintain control over things from afar.
Controlling the formation-diagram took very little power. Although this divine power clone was fairly weak, for it to use Immortal energy to control the formation-diagram was simplicity itself.
With his clone present, Ning would be constantly aware of the locations and behaviors of the nine Hegemons and Emperors.
……
Within the darkness of the void. An ancient realmship was hovering in the skies next to a flaming cage, with Ning’s true body and Whitethaw inside the realmship.
Whoosh. Ten billion kilometers up ahead, an azure-scaled figure suddenly flew out from one of the flaming passageways. This figure emanated an extremely strange aura; it didn’t seem that dominating or overbearing, but based on Ning’s intelligence reports it definitely belonged to a terrifying figure who was ranked highly even amongst other Hegemons.
“Hegemon Azurefiend!” Ning grinned. “Let’s move.” Swoosh! Ning controlled his realmship to immediately fly into a nearby flaming passageway.
“Eh?” Hegemon Azurefiend had just reached the prison region after leaving the flaming passageways when he suddenly sensed a ripple from afar. Turning his head, he immediately saw that realmship.
“The realmship!” Hegemon Azurefiend was instantly overjoyed, so excited that his eyes lit up. “Haha, I really am lucky. I actually ran into the realmship as soon as I arrived here, and it seems as though the other Hegemons haven’t discovered it yet.”
“You want to run? Heh heh…” Hegemon Azurefiend’s speed skyrocketed as he furiously chased after the fleeing realmship.
Ning sent the realmship fleeing into the flaming passageways, beginning a ‘panicked’ flight through the area. Hegemon Azurefiend naturally followed him into the flaming passageways as well from behind.
“You won’t be able to escape. You aren’t going anywhere!” Hegemon Azurefiend spoke out, his voice carrying a strange, magnetic cadence that caused the area around Ning to shimmer.
“Azurefiend, don’t try to show off such meager skill in illusions before me. Hmph.” Ning’s voice echoed within the flaming passageways as well.
“Hand the realmship over to me and I’ll spare your life. Otherwise, you are doomed!” Hegemon Azurefiend chased frantically from behind.
“You think you can doom me? Hmph. I’ll show you just how incredible a realmship truly is.” Even as Ning’s voice echoed within the flaming passageways, the realmship suddenly skyrocketed in speed. Swoosh! It instantly pulled away from Hegemon Azurefiend, throwing him off and making it so that he could do nothing but watch as Ning disappeared from his field of vision.
“T-that fast?!” Hegemon Azurefiend was briefly stunned, but his eyes then flashed with savage light. “Good. What a fine realmship.” Realmships were meant for travel. When Archon Silksnow had used it, it was in terrible shape but still far faster than Ning. Now, it had been repaired considerably and was even faster than before, allowing Ning to easily throw Hegemon Azurefiend off his trail.
……
Time flowed on. A few months after the last encounter.
“A realmship!” Hegemon Everworry had just arrived at the prison region, and his eyes lit up as he saw the distant realmship.
“Another Hegemon?!” Ning’s enraged sound rang out from within the realmship. “Hegemon Everworry… don’t you feel that you are all being too shameless?” As he spoke, he sent the realmship diving into the flaming passageway.
……
Three years later.
“The realmship is over there!” Hegemon Oldgem and the Paragon of Swords were both in hot pursuit of the realmship, which was fleeing in panic. Every so often, it would blast into certain traps that would send it spinning, but each time it was able to quickly stabilize itself and continue to flee at incredible speeds, shaking off both of them.
……
Time flowed on. All nine Emperors and Hegemons were thoroughly enraged; it was as though the only thing Daolord Darknorth could do was flee! Given how fast the realmship was, it was extremely hard for them to catch up to it.
“Daolord Darknorth is extremely familiar with the flaming passageways, allowing him to avoid many of the most dangerous mechanisms with ease. Even if he does occasionally run into one of them, his realmship is able to take the damage.” The nine Hegemons and Emperors all felt rather helpless.
Every single passageway was extremely long, and the countless passageways were filled with even more mechanisms. The Emperors had to move with care, and for now there really was no way for them to catch Ning as the latter dove here and there.
Still, they continued to waited excitedly. At least the realmship was remaining within the flaming passageways this entire time. Sooner or later, they’d catch it.
……
“Mm. For now, I’ll keep the most terrifying mechanisms of the passageways under wraps and keep them off their guard.” Ning remained quite calm from within his realmship. “I’ll keep their attention completely focused upon the flaming passageways for now. That way, so long as they avoid the prison region it’s unlikely they’ll be able to discover that hidden area.”
The reason why Ning had used himself as bait
to repeatedly lure them out was because he was worried that if he just remained in hiding, the Emperors and Hegemons would begin to search the area with such care that they might scour every inch of the prison region. The hidden region was extremely difficult to locate, and Ning himself had only found it thanks to the guidance of Whitethaw… but his foes were Hegemons!
If an entire host of Hegemons chose to slowly and patiently search a region, they might one day be lucky enough to discover it. Once they did, they’d be able to take over that hidden region, at which point Ning would no longer be able to control the formation-diagram!
The chances of this happening were quite low, but Ning didn’t dare to take the risk.
“I need them to know that I’m in the flaming passageways. I need to focus their attentions on me. That way, they won’t search the prison region. Once a few more Hegemons and Emperors arrive, it’ll be time for me to make my move.” Ning was more than patient.
* * *
Book 37, Chapter 15 - The Second Batch
Within the realmship, located inside one of the flaming passageways inside the Jadefire Realm. Ji Ning was seated inside the realmship, drinking some wine. The fragrance of the wine filled the entire vessel, while the Protector stood solemnly by his side.
“Whitethaw, sit down and have some wine?” Ning said with a relaxed smile.
“I’m a golem. I don’t need to drink wine,” Whitethaw said flatly.
Ning shook his head. “That’s where you are wrong. I don’t ‘need’ to drink wine either, but I still ‘like’ to drink wine. We still need to have hobbies, you know. Come, come! I have plenty of precious wine stored up. Have a taste of all of them.”
“No need.” Whitethaw continued to stand there by himself.
“I order you to sit down.” Ning frowned.
“Yes, Master.” Whitethaw sat down obediently.
“Drink.” Ning pointed at the wine goblet in front of him.
Whitethaw picked up the goblet and dutifully drank the wine, then frowned and said in a low voice, “I don’t like it. I tried it back when I followed my previous master, ‘Daoist Bluestone’. I didn’t like it then, I don’t like it now.”
