by RWX
……
That very day, Ning led Nuwa, Patriarch Treewind, and the others in departing from Houwu City.
“Be careful on your journey, Daolord.” Lord Houwu watched from afar as the realmship vanished from his demesnes.
“Lord Governor, you were far too rash! If you had merely asked Daolord Darknorth for some pointers, he would’ve agreed to give you some guidance,” the nearby silver-browed elder said.
“Forget it. That ship has already sailed. Just being able to witness that dazzling sword-strike was all worth it,” Lord Houwu said. “That sword-strike… I will probably never be able to forget it. It was simply too incredible.”
That dazzling, snow-colored, flower-like sword had already surpassed the limits of sword-arts. It truly was unsurpassably beautiful.
……
The Blazesun Domain was a truly mysterious place. It was filled with many Sithe treasuries, Sourcewalkers, Chaos Primordials, strange creatures, and multiple otherverses. It was one of the most marvelous places of the Chaosverse, one of the Eight Domains.
Swoosh! The red-robed woman and the crimson bloodfiend leader flew through the void side-by-side, finally landing upon a long walkway of frozen ice.
For a walkway of frozen ice to appear within the blazingly hot Blazesun Domain was truly a marvelous thing. Thanks to its vast size, the Blazesun Domain was a self-contained system unto itself that was extremely stable, and filled with places that had both mud and water. Ice, however, was still very rare, much less an entire walkway made out of ice.
The frozen walkway was semi-translucent and stretched off for countless kilometers. It was lined with stone columns to each side, and each column had a ball of fire blazing on top.
The red-robed maiden and the crimson bloodfiend leader walked across the walkway of ice. After walking for a time, they saw an enormous altar that had been sculpted out of ice. It had many layers of frozen steps which led to a frozen throne at the very top.
Atop the frozen throne sat a muscular man whose entire body was black. He was dressed in black armor, and his eyes were two blazing balls of fire. He rested his jaw on one hand as he stared downwards and said calmly, “The Eight-Armed Hill’s lifestone has shattered, which means it is dead. How did it die? I do not believe the Lord Governor of Houwu City has the courage to launch a war against me! In addition, I’ve never humiliated or made things too difficult for their city. This time, they went too far in destroying something which I loved.”
The crimson bloodfiend leader shivered, not saying a word. The red-robed maiden, however, bowed respectfully: “Ruler, we went on your orders to apprehend those five cultivators. As you said, the Lord Governor of Houwu City would never dare to make an enemy out of you… but those five cultivators have a powerful backer.”
“A backer?” The muscular black figure stared downwards at them.
“Yes.” The red-robed maiden said hurriedly, “Their backer is named Daolord Darknorth!”
“A Daolord?” The muscular black figure was instantly astonished. In truth, neither the red-robed maiden or the Blazesun Ruler had heard the name ‘Daolord Darknorth’ before! Although the legend of Ning had spread quite far by now, it had only spread amongst the cultivators. No one would go out of their way to share news like this to Sourcewalkers or the other civilizations! In addition, the Sourcewalkers were located quite far away from each other; it was generally quite hard for them to send word to their fellows. Thus, there were very few Sourcewalkers who knew the legend of Daolord Darknorth.
“Are you joking with me?” the Blazesun Ruler said coldly.
“I wouldn’t dare.”
“We would never dare to lie to you, Ruler!” the crimson bloodfiend said hurriedly. “It truly was a Daolord, an extremely powerful one. He didn’t even use any techniques at all; he simply manifested countless streaks of sword-light in the world, and every single streak of sword-light was capable of slaying Hegemons with ease! He was utterly terrifying. I was completely dazed when I saw this.”
“What? He manifested countless streaks of sword-light, each of which could slay Hegemons?” The Blazesun Ruler rose to his feet in shock.
“Yes.” The red-robed maiden said hurriedly, “It should’ve been a domain formed by the Dao of the Sword! A terrifying one at that. The Eight-Armed Hill, that fool, actually thought that Daolord Darknorth was just faking it and putting on a false front, insisting on charging towards Daolord Darknorth and attacking him. I couldn’t even stop him! Daolord Darknorth used just a single blow of his sword to kill the Eight-Armed Hill. In addition, Daolord Darknorth is a Daolord who has failed the Daomerge. I can sense that his soul and truesoul were slowly dissipating with every passing breath.”
The Blazesun Ruler murmured softly, “I’ve never even heard of such a terrifying Sword Dao domain. Can it be… a legendary ‘Eternal Omega Dao’, one of the sword?”
Omega Daos were all legends. The Blazesun Ruler knew of them, but he also knew that no one had ever succeeded in the Daomerge for an Omega Dao, and that no one had ever mastered an Eternal Omega Dao! But when he heard of how Ning had created such a terrifying Sword Dao domain, and that Ning was a Daolord who had failed the Daomerge… save for the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, the Blazesun Ruler couldn’t think of any other possibility.
“Interesting.” The Blazesun Ruler’s eyes lit up, and the flames that served for his eyes suddenly glowed brighter. “A Daolord who has failed the Daomerge but mastered the Eternal Omega Sword Dao? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Finally, something interesting has appeared to break up the monotony of life.”
* * *
Book 39, Chapter 20 - A Strange Feeling
“Scarletbind.” The Blazesun Ruler began to walk down from his altar of ice, his blazing eyes burning brightly. He ordered in his sonorous voice, “Come, accompany me to Houwu City. I can’t wait to meet this Daolord Darknorth!”
“Yes.” The red-robed woman immediately assented to the order.
“Sparring against those other seven Domain Rulers is completely pointless. Daolord Darknorth is a cultivator who has mastered the Eternal Omega Sword Dao… the first in the entire Chaosverse!” The Blazesun Ruler was filled with eagerness and a desire to do battle.
He stood at the very apex of power amongst Sourcewalkers. Each of the Eight Domains had a Domain Ruler, and all of them were at the level of the Sithe Exalts! There might be a few other supreme Sourcewalkers located in other incredibly distant parts of the vast Chaosverse, but there truly were very, very few of them.
……
Just half a day later, the Blazesun Ruler reached Houwu City.
Rumble… a black warship which was completely made out of deepfire blackstone tore through spacetime and appeared in the skies above Houwu City.
“Huh?!”
“What IS that?” The Hegemons, Emperors, and other cultivators of Houwu City all stared in shock at the enormous black warship which had just appeared in the distant skies. They felt a sense of pure terror from the oppressive aura generated by this vessel. This was a powerful warship which was similar to the Stone Hellephant Wall, and it was the most powerful Sithe treasure which the Blazesun Ruler possessed. This was far more powerful than a mere realmship!
“That’s the Blazesun Ruler.” Lord Houwu and a few of the more experienced cultivators immediately recognized this ship, and they all flew into the skies.
Whoosh! The surface of the giant warship rippled as a door appeared, followed by two figures flying out of it. The first was the red-robed maiden, Walker Scarletbind, who had been here just a short while ago. The other was undisputably the most terrifyingly powerful figure of the entire Blazesun Domain… the Blazesun Ruler.
When Lord Houwu saw the muscular black-colored figure appear, he immediately bowed respectfully: “Respectful greetings, Blazesun Ruler.”
“Respectful greetings, Blazesun Ruler.” The cultivators felt shock and fear, but on the surface they showed nothing but respect. They knew that the Blazesun Ruler was on
a completely different level of power than them!
When adventuring through the Chaosverse, they had occasionally battled against Sourcewalkers and other marvelous creatures, but none of them would dare to contend against the Blazesun Ruler! He was simply far too powerful. Even dominating cultivators like the Lonely King or Lord Houwu would have no choice but to bow their heads in his presence.
The Blazesun Ruler was comparable in power to that of the most supreme Sithes. Even an Autarch wouldn’t be able to slay a Sithe Exalt with just two or three full-power attacks. But of course, given enough time they could still accomplish it; in the end, there was a degree of difference in power between the Autarchs and the Exalts.
Still… to all other cultivators, the Blazesun Ruler was someone vastly beyond their level. This was why the Blazesun Ruler himself generally didn’t deign to battle against cultivators; at most, he would only show his might against those foolish cultivators who had offended him. In this case, Patriarch Treewind and Nuwa had barged into his estate, completely wrecked it, looted it clean, and destroyed one of his beloved items. Of course he would be angry, and of course he had to make clear the weight of his displeasure!
“Daolord Darknorth. Where is he?” The Blazesun Ruler stared downwards, his voice booming out to shake the entire city of Houwu. As he spoke, he scanned the city and searched it. Although he was able to find a few Samsara Daolords, he wasn’t able to find one who had failed the Daomerge.
“Domain Ruler,” Lord Houwu said, bowing once more, “Daolord Darknorth left Houwu City after defeating Scarletbind.”
“He left?” The Blazesun Ruler was startled. He shook his head and murmured, “Can it be that he’s afraid of me? He’s the only cultivator in the entire Chaosverse who has ever mastered an Eternal Omega Dao… and he actually chose to flee instead of fighting? I truly am disappointed.”
None of the cultivators below him dared to say a thing. They were afraid of Daolord Darknorth, but they were also afraid of the Blazesun Ruler! In fact, they were even more afraid of the Blazesun Ruler, because there was a limit to how long Daolord Darknorth would be around for. Sooner or later, he would die and his Dao would vanish. The Blazesun Ruler, in contrast, possessed an endless lifespan.
“Where did Daolord Darknorth go?” the Blazesun Ruler growled.
“None of us dared to ask,” Lord Houwu said hurriedly. “Daolord Darknorth and the others left quite quickly. They could’ve gone anywhere.”
The Blazesun Ruler laughed coldly. “This is my Blazesun Domain. They won’t be able to escape it. Let’s go, Scarletbind.” The Blazesun Ruler turned and walked back towards his black warship. “Let’s go find this Daolord Darknorth.”
“Yes, Domain Ruler.” The red-robed maiden immediately followed behind obediently.
The giant black warship left with a rumble. All of the cultivators below finally let out sighs of relief. Even Lord Houwu still felt a hint of lingering fear.
“Thankfully, the Domain Ruler didn’t make us the object of his ire. If he did, we’d probably all have to run for our lives. Even though we have the citadel protecting us, it’s likely that only a few of us would make it,” the silver-browed elder said.
“Daolord Darknorth on one side, the Blazesun Ruler on the other. I cannot afford to offend either one.” Moments later, a startled look appeared on Lord Houwu’s face. “That’s odd. Why is it that the Blazesun Ruler only asked about Daolord Darknorth and didn’t ask about Nuwa and the others? It was Patriarch Treewind and Nuwa who wrecked his estate. Logically speaking, his main target should be Patriarch Treewind and Nuwa, right?”
“Right.” The silver-browed elder was puzzled as well. “Can it be that he was able to foresee that Nuwa’s group is travelling alongside Daolord Darknorth? But I’ve never heard anyone say that he is particularly accomplished in the Dao of Numerancy.”
“That IS odd.” Lord Houwu was similarly puzzled.
What none of them realized was that by now, the Blazesun Ruler no longer cared about Nuwa’s team at all. His ‘beloved item’ was nothing more than a trinket he was fond of. What the Blazesun Ruler really wanted to do was to find Daolord Darknorth and have a good fight with him!
……
The Blazesun Ruler gave the order, fully mobilizing all of his forces to begin a search for Daolord Darknorth.
……
More than 300,000 years after Ning and Nuwa had first met.
Whoosh! A realmship was flying through a sea of fiery clouds. Inside the realmship was the white-robed Ning and a silver-robed Nuwa, who were having a conversation with each other. Nuwa was now dressed in longer silver robes, and a red diamond was affixed to the middle of her forehead. When the Lonely King had wielded these weapons, they had emanated icy and evil auras, but on Nuwa they looked noble and beautiful. The silver robes glowed with a holy aura that looked like moonlight, while the red diamond put Nuwa’s alabaster-white skin on full display.
Nuwa and Ning spent much of their time discussing the Dao. Ning held nothing back, unstintingly sharing his own experiences in detail. This caused Patriarch Treewind and the others to feel a sense of tremendous jealousy! However, Ning occasionally provided them with a few pointers as well… but he naturally didn’t put as much effort into it as he did into teaching Nuwa.
“Treewind, Jade Rainbow… based on my calculations, we should be arriving soon, yes?” Ning suddenly asked.
“Daolord,” “Daolord,” Patriarch Treewind and Imperator Jade Rainbow answered at the same time. After sharing a glance, Patriarch Treewind was the one to answer: “We should arrive in just three more months. By then, you’ll be able to see the imprisoned Sithe Exalt.”
Ning smiled and nodded. The reason why Ning had been unwilling to meet the Blazesun Ruler and spar against him was because the more he battled, the faster his truesoul would dissipate. And yet, it would take nearly half a million years to use a realmship to fly from Houwu City to the outskirts of the Blazesun Domain. Given how much time even this ‘fastest’ path would take, it was entirely possible that the Blazesun Ruler would be able to intercept them!
Thus, Ning had chosen to take a roundabout path that would make it harder for the Domain Ruler to find them. And since they had already chosen to take a roundabout path, Ning decided to go ahead and pay a visit to the imprisoned Sithe Exalt! Ning had never seen a Sithe Exalt before and was quite curious about them. He also had the vague feeling that there had to be a secret hidden behind the fact that the six Sithe Exalts had been imprisoned in six of the Eight Domains at the very center of the Chaosverse!
The realmship continued to advance, occasionally encountering a few creatures who Hegemon Goodsong or Flamewing quickly dispatched. Another month went by in the blink of an eye as they drew closer and closer to the imprisoned Sithe Exalt.
“Halt!” Ning suddenly shouted.
Hegemon Azurefiend, who was responsible for controlling the realmship, immediately halted the ship and brought it out of its spacetime warp. Everyone in the realmship turned to stare at Ning.
“Master, what is it?” Flamewing was rather puzzled.
“These ripples…” Ning closed his eyes, sensing as those faint ripples washed over him. These ripples were constantly changing and transforming, but on the surface they seemed quite ordinary. Given how much fire elemental energy the Blazesun Domain held, for there to be a few energy ripples was quite normal. “These ripples… in this area, they’ve actually scattered apart into a total of over three hundred million ripples, but they should all come from the same source.”
Ning murmured softly, “Vast, ancient, and powerful…”
The nearby Patriarch Treewind, Nuwa, Azurefiend, Goodsong, and other Hegemonic figures were all puzzled. They could hear what Ning was murmuring, but they didn’t sense anything at all.
* * *
Book 39, Chapter 21 - The Path to Becoming the Strongest Autarch
“Listen to my commands.” Ji Ning opened his eyes, which were shining brightly. He used his left hand
to point towards a certain direction: “Advance towards that direction.”
“Understood,” Hegemon Azurefiend acknowledged.
The Blazesun Domain was filled with too many dangers. Not even a realmship could be used to engage in long-distance warps through spacetime; at most, only short warps were possible. Sometimes, ordinary flight was necessary as well.
“Now this direction.” Ning’s finger suddenly moved to point a different location. “Now over there.” Ning followed his senses, and as they moved closer he continuously had them change directions.
Whooooosh. A strange but subtle sound, almost like the roaring of the waves of a river, was beginning to pervade this entire region. Although everyone within the realmship remained puzzled, the sound of the ‘roaring river’ was enough to let them know that Ning was leading them to some sort of secret place.
“It continually shifts through spacetime, moving from one continuum to another. Its almost like a maze…” Ning smiled. “It’s hidden quite well, but it still won’t be able to evade my senses. Advance!”
Ning continued to point, guiding the realmship to fly up, left, down, right… the direction constantly changed, and every so often they would even warp into a different continuum. As time flowed on, the echoing sound of the ‘river water’ began to grow increasingly loud as well. Five months went by in the blink of an eye, and by now the sound roared like thunder.
BOOM! The realmship suddenly rammed into an invisible barrier, which bulged inwards. The realmship continued to press inwards, quickly piercing through the invisible membrane. As it did so, the environment around it completely changed.
“Wow.”
“What in the…” The cultivators in the realmship were all stunned, as was the Flamewing God. Su Youji’s eyes turned completely round with shock. The calmest was Ning, but even he narrowed his eyes as he stared at their new surroundings.
They were now in the midst of an enormous, fiery-red sea. If one took a close look at the fiery liquid within the sea, one would see that it was actually composed of incredibly dense and concentrated flames! The countless flames all flowed together like a liquid, coming together to form an indescribably vast sea. At the very center of this sea was an enormous whirlpool that was continuously twisting and churning, causing all of the fiery ‘liquid’ within the sea to move and generate those rumbling roars. This was a sound that surpassed the limits of spacetime and spread out in every direction.
