Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Oh. Over here, right?” The bald old man walked over and chuckled while spacetime churned around him and began to reverse at increasingly high speeds.

  Whoooooosh. Spacetime continued to reverse, and they quickly reached the scene of the old Three Realms.

  “Slow down a bit,” Ning urged.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll find the old you first,” the bald old man said. “Oh. There you are.” A projection of the Grand Xia had appeared, centered around the old Black-White College. The scene was that of Ning, who had just entered the Black-White College. He was about to begin his duel against Yu Wei.

  “The Black-White College?” The bald old man pointed towards Yu Wei’s image. “That should be your wife, yes?”

  “Yes.” Ning felt as though his blood was boiling from nervousness. It had been a long, long time since he had been this nervous.

  “It seems she really did have a big impact on you.” The bald old man laughed. “Wait for me to reverse the flows of spacetime and bring her back to life!”

  * * *

  Book 38, Chapter 3 - Origins

  “Oh, right. Where’s the realmship? I conduct business fairly. I have to take your realmship in payment for reviving your Dao-companion.” The old man looked at Ning.

  “Here it is.” At a time like this, the realmship meant absolutely nothing to Ji Ning. He immediately waved his hand, sending the palm-sized realmship flying over. Hegemon Azurefiend watched with a rather agonized look in his eyes, but all he could do was sigh to himself: “Darknorth truly is willing to sacrifice anything in order to revive his Dao-companion. A realmship has been lost, just like that.”

  The bald old man cared as little about the realmship as Ning did. He waved his hand to accept it, then said solemnly: “None of you are to disturb me. Stay far away from me as well.”

  “Alright.” Ning, Azurefiend, and Whitethaw all immediately retreated off into the distance.

  “Chaosverse, I’ve come to steal yet another truesoul fragment from you.” A hint of a smile appeared on the bald old man’s lips. He then reached out with both hands, the fleshy antennae on his head wriggling as a terrifying amount of power began to spread out from him. He became the absolute master of this area of space.

  “Condense.” The bald old man waved a finger, causing the illusory phantom of the black-robed Yu Wei to begin to light up.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. Countless specks of light began to appear deep within the incredibly distant prime essences of the Chaosverse. They flew into the illusory phantom of the black-robed Yu Wei, pulling at her.

  “It has begun.” Ning watched nervously. The illusory Yu Wei was nothing more than a phantom of the past. In order to make the phantom real, it had to have a truesoul within it! However, when the living beings of the Three Realms lost their truesouls, those truesouls would return to where they came from – the prime essences of the Chaosverse.

  “To reverse spacetime and revive someone who perished… this is my first time seeing an Autarch do such a thing,” Hegemon Azurefiend sent mentally. “Look at how nervous your master is!”

  Whitethaw looked at Ning, then nodded and sent back, “This is my master’s deepest desire. Of course he is nervous.”

  “For an ordinary mortal to train to such heights and then be able to ask an Autarch to help him out… I truly do feel a great deal of admiration for him.” Azurefiend sighed.

  Both Azurefiend and Whitethaw were fairly calm. They watched this rare sight with interest and appreciation, but the only thing Ning felt was nervousness.

  In that empty region of space, the bald old Autarch Titanos had already completely unleashed his power. The black-robed Yu Wei was glimmering with countless specks of light, and she was becoming increasingly ‘real’. However… gradually, the gathering of the light seemed to slow down. Some of the light actually started to disappear.

  “Eh?!” The bald old man’s face tightened, while Ning’s heart shuddered.

  “Get over here!” A hint of anger flashed past the bald old man’s face, and more light instantly began to gather around Yu Wei’s phantom once more. The bald old man’s face became increasingly ugly to behold, but Yu Wei’s body began to become more and more real. Slowly, the light that gathered over her eyes caused a look of sentience to appear within her eyes.

  “Senior apprentice-sister.” Ning looked at Yu Wei.

  The light-bathed Yu Wei looked back at Ning. A hint of life flashed through her eyes. She was no longer a phantom of the past; it was as though a real person was looking back at Ning. Their gazes met… and in that instant, Ning suddenly felt as though it was all worth it. Anything was worth it, so long as she could come back to life.

  “Ugh!” The bald old man suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. His face was ashen, and Yu Wei’s phantom immediately began to crumble apart as the countless specks of light began to dissipate.

  “No…!” Ning frantically reached out, wanting to claw back the dissipating light. Alas, the power of the prime essences of the Chaosverse caused all the specks of light to disappear into nothingness.

  “DAMNIT!” The bald old man’s face was ashen. He was so angry that even the two fleshy antennae on his head were quivering with rage. He howled furiously, “Prime essences of the Chaosverse, the truesoul fragments of countless living beings have returned to you upon death. All I want is to bring a single one of them back! A single truesoul is nothing to you! Why must you fight me to the death like this? Why must you seize it back!”

  The binding power of the prime essences of the Chaosverse was simply too great. Normally, Hegemons and even Otherverse Lords did not have the power to try and resist it. Only Autarchs were qualified to make the attempt.

  “Is it worth it?! Is it worth it for you to spend so much effort in fighting me?!” The old man’s entire body was trembling from rage. The area around him, however, remained completely in silence. The prime essences of the Chaosverse made no response at all.

  The bald old man forced down his rage, then turned to look at Ning.

  “Autarch.” Ning looked at Autarch Titanos.

  “Where did your Dao-companion come from? I should be able to revive even a World God with ease, to say nothing of a Celestial Immortal like her.” The bald old man stared at Ning. “Just now, when I tried to reverse spacetime and revive your wife, the prime essences of the Chaosverse fought me so hard, I felt as though I was trying to revive a Hegemon! Even if I killed myself trying to bring her back, I still wouldn’t stand much of a chance.”

  Ning’s face turned ashen as well. What?! An Autarch could kill himself trying to revive Yu Wei? Ning knew that there was no need for Autarch Titanos to lie to someone like him. In fact, Autarch Titanos had tried so hard that he had suffered an injury because of it, vomiting blood as a result.

  “How is this possible? She’s nothing more than an ordinary Celestial Immortal of the Three Realms. There was nothing special about her.” Ning couldn’t understand either. “Why can’t you revive her? This makes no sense.”

  “Let me take a closer look at things.” The bald old man turned to stare at the surrounding void. Rumble… countless images began to flicker through the void. These images included what had happened in the new Three Realms, the events of the old Three Realms, the collision between the Pangu Chaosworld and the Seamless Chaosworld, and even the images of what had happened prior to the Pangu Chaosworld being born.

  Countless images flashed through the void around him…

  “So that’s how it is.” The bald old man nodded slowly.

  “Autarch?” Ning looked at the bald old man.

  “During the Dawn War, when we fought against the Sithe… we had a number of Autarchs on our side,” the bald old man said. “One of them was named Autarch Awakener.”

  “Autarch Awakener?” Hegemon Azurefiend had a puzzled look on his face.

  Ning, however, turned pale. He naturally knew that Autarch Awakener had been the master of the Azureflower Estate. He immediately said, “This has somet
hing to do with Autarch Awakener?”

  “You seem to have heard of Awakener before.” The bald old man laughed. “The number of people in the vast Chaosverse who were able to become Autarchs can be counted on just two hands! Autarch Awakener died long ago. It could be considered a form of suicide.”

  “He died? Suicided?” Azurefiend became increasingly confused. Ning, however, had heard this long ago and thus simply continued to listen attentively.

  “Darknorth, kid… Worldhearts can be naturally birthed from the primordial chaos, but there is also a second way a chaosworld’s Worldheart can be formed. Do you know what that way is?” The bald old man looked at Ning.

  “An Eternal Emperor’s godgems,” Ning said. This was a secret, but Ning had studied the countless techniques Autarch Awakener had acquired from the Sithe and the cultivator civilizations. Thus, he knew these secrets long ago.

  A Samsara Daolord could have at most a total of 108,000 godgems in his divine body. Once he completed his Daomerge, those godgems would become Eternal godgems and be filled with miraculous powers.

  If an Eternal Emperor perished, each of his godgems could give birth to a new chaosworld. The living beings in this chaosworld would generally be fairly special, and it would give birth to experts at a slightly higher rate. However, the difference between these chaosworlds and ordinary chaosworlds wasn’t all that great. However, the godgems left behind by a deceased Hegemon could give birth to extremely special chaosworlds.

  “Correct.” The bald old man nodded. “As you may know, your Three Realms was born from a collision between the Pangu Chaosworld and the Seamless Chaosworld… but what you didn’t know was that each was formed from a godgem.”

  “A godgem?” Ning immediately thought back to the fused and dazzlingly beautiful Worldheart he had seen when the old Three Realms had been destroyed.

  “Yes. Godgems from Autarch Awakener!” the bald old man said.

  “What?!” Azurefiend called out in shock.

  “An Autarch’s godgems?!” Ning was stunned as well.

  “Autarch Awakener died, but he made preparations prior to his death. He made arrangements for all 108,000 of his godgems,” the bald old man said. “Two of them were sent into the void and ended up becoming a chaosworld.”

  “The living beings in these two chaosworlds were all blessed with incredible talent. These two chaosworlds vastly outstripped all other chaosworlds, and each of them gave birth to as many geniuses as an entire territory might,” the bald old man said.

  Ning was starting to understand. No wonder the Pangu Chaosworld and Seamless Chaosworld had so many freakishly talented people! They didn’t have any good techniques or legacies, but they were still so talented that they were able to fight at a higher level of power than they were at. Once they were given good techniques, they skyrocketed in power.

  “Later on, these two chaosworlds collided against each other. Their Worldhearts smashed together as well, and parts of their Worldhearts were actually broken off and splintered,” the bald old man said. “The shattered Worldheart bits were completely melted away and their power was dispersed upon the countless living beings of the new world.”

  * * *

  Book 38, Chapter 4 - A Graceful Departure

  Ji Ning immediately remembered that the Worldheart of the Three Realms was indeed composed of two damaged crystals that had somehow managed to fuse together. Both were indeed incomplete, but they had managed to come together and form a perfect whole.

  “In other words… small parts of an Autarch’s godgems were completely dispersed into energy which was bestowed upon the living beings of that era. That was why all of the living beings in that first era underwent certain changes,” the bald old man said. “This was why the woman known as ‘Nuwa’ was able to suddenly break through to become a World God during that war. She had no techniques and no teachers, but she was still able to break through! The one known as Windfiend was also dramatically strengthened during the course of that battle!”

  “All living creatures below the World-level in that chaosworld were blessed by the Autarch’s energies,” the bald old man said. “This was why your master Subhuti, as well as many of those other major powers, continued to slowly grow more and more powerful. Their potential continued to deepen as well.”

  “As for the countless ordinary mortals of the Three Realms, all of them possess tremendous talent. You used to be nothing more than an ordinary mortal. Back then, the amount of karmic luck you had was vastly inferior to the amount your master Subhuti and the others had.”

  “Eventually, you rose to sudden prominence! As your power skyrocketed, you gained more karmic luck and thus many of the blessings of the Three Realms became focused upon you. During that battle against the Seamless Alliance, you finally broke through to a new level of power, draining away a large amount of karmic luck from the Three Realms.” The bald old man looked at Ning. “You were blessed with tremendous potential, becoming the most powerful figure of the Three Realms Era.”

  “However… in the end, karmic luck is secondary. It was primarily your own hard work which brought you to this point,” the bald old man said.

  Ning was beginning to slowly understand. He had indeed been blessed by luck, which was why he was able to make it this far… but every single powerful cultivator had his own lucky encounters! Take Archon Silksnow as an example. Although he was a fiendish figure, he had also experienced many lucky encounters in his life… but in the end, he had still been forced by Ning to commit suicide.

  The more powerful you became, the less of an impact the prime essences of the Chaosverse would have upon you. There were evil figures who had butchered entire territories, but they were still living happy lives, yes? The prime essences of the Chaosverse weren’t able to do anything to them.

  “The Three Realms Era ended, and the new Three Realms began. By now, the Worldheart is in good shape. There are no longer any godgem fragments, and so it is impossible for the generations to come in the new Three Realms to be quite as monstrously talented as the generation of the Three Realms Era.” The bald old man laughed. “Your era was a special one which gave birth to special figures. If you missed it, you missed it.”

  Ning nodded. That era was an era where two Autarch’s godgems had collided and given birth to a brand new world. It had indeed given birth to many major powers, including over ten thousand World-level cultivators and numerous Samsara Daolords, with Ning himself being the strongest of them. But of course, the vast majority of the living beings continued to live and die in an unending cycle of life and death.

  “Every single living being born from a chaosworld formed by an Autarch’s godgem is unique,” the bald old man said. “This is because they all have a tiny amount of the Autarch’s own essence within them. Once their souls and truesouls are destroyed, their truesoul fragments will be immediately taken away by the prime essences of the Chaosverse and hidden within its depths.”

  “You must understand, long long ago the vast Chaosverse didn’t have that many living beings within it. It was the prime essences themselves who gave birth to all things. However… after doing so, as the living creatures grew stronger the prime essences themselves grew weaker.”

  “This is because, when we cultivate and grow stronger, what we do is draw upon the energy of the prime essences of the Chaosverse,” the old man explained. “And when an Autarch rises to power? This is an incredible event. The rise of every single Autarch is a momentous occasion for the prime essences of the Chaosverse. Once an Autarch dies, the prime essences will immediately do their best to absorb as much of the Autarch’s power as possible.

  “Thus, although it is very easy to revive a living being from an ordinary chaosworld, to revive a living being from a chaosworld formed by an Autarch’s godgem is far more difficult. The problem facing us is that the Three Realms Era was an era where the living beings were blessed with the energies of TWO fragmented godgems. Every single living being of that era is incredibly special.


  “Your Dao-companion was a Celestial Immortal of that era. To revive her truly will be even more difficult than reviving a Hegemon!” the bald old man said. “The prime essences have already swallowed her truesoul fragments; there’s no way they will spit it back out again. They will never agree to release your Dao-companion’s truesoul fragments. They’ll use their full power to oppose anyone who tries.”

  Ning now completely understood. He was a major power himself, and he had seen the countless techniques of two mighty civilizations. He knew far more than the vast majority of Hegemons.

  When living beings were born, they would draw upon the energy of the primordial chaos to grow more powerful. If this process continued unabated, giving birth to more and more powerful experts… where would all of that energy come from? From the Chaosverse itself! Thus, the Chaosverse needed to reclaim its energies as well, and one of the most basic ways to do that was to draw upon truesoul fragments. The so-called destruction of the truesoul was nothing more than completely shattering a truesoul into fragments which would then be swallowed up by the Chaosverse.

  It was akin to the cycle of reincarnation. New experts would rise to power, while dead ones would see their truesouls swallowed up by the Chaosverse. It formed a complete cycle.

  Everworlds had their own basic essences, which was why when living beings died in an everworld their truesoul fragments would remain within the everworld. Reviving them would be quite easy.

  Individuals who lived in otherverses would see their truesouls remain within the otherverse when they died. For example, the ‘Sword Hegemon’ who was the big brother of the Paragon of Pills – when he died, his truesoul was taken away by the prime essences of that alternate universe. To revive him would be comparatively easier, but he was still a Hegemon; the prime essences of that otherverse would fight tooth-and-claw to keep his truesoul fragments. Only an Autarch would be able to bring him back, but an Autarch would not casually revive a Hegemon. The price for such a thing would be far more than a mere realmship.