by RWX
“What in the world IS this place?” Hegemon Azurefiend sighed with astonishment. “This entire sea is composed of countless flames that have been… liquefied? And the flames… I feel as though they are on par with the flames which Flamewing belches out.”
“Yeah… what is this place? How is it that a place like this can exist in the Blazesun Domain? I’ve never even heard of it!” Patriarch Treewind didn’t understand either.
“I like this place, Master! I want to dive right in.” Flamewing looked excitedly at Ning.
“Go ahead.” Ning smiled and nodded.
Swoosh! Flamewing immediately exited the realmship and transformed into his true form, then dove straight down towards the flaming sea. Even in his true form, it was nothing more than a tiny little dot in the great sea. Plop! It plunged into the flaming sea, kicking up some ‘spray’! As the ‘water’ shot up in Flamewing’s wake, it quickly dissipated into flames.
“Whoah. Whoaaaaah! This is nice! Ahahaha! This feels great!” Flamewing delightedly swam through the flames, growling and howling happily, “Master, come and try it out for yourself! It feels great! The last time I felt this comfortable was when I was born.”
Ning and the others all flew out of the realmship, then stood in the empty void and stared at the great sea. “When it was first born?” Ning’s face twitched. “Flamewing was born in the Quintessence of the Chaosverse. That means that this place is actually quite similar to the Quintessence? But there’s no way this place can be the location of the prime essences.”
Ning’s will was able to maintain constant contact with the prime essence of the Dao of the Sword, and so he had a rough idea as to where the prime essences were located. This place was not it.
“Such an enormous amount of fire energy… I’ve never seen anything like this,” Hegemon Goodsong mumbled.
“If my guess is correct,” Imperator Jade Rainbow said, “This place should be the true nucleus of the Blazesun Domain.”
“The true core?”
“Are you saying that the entire Blazesun Domain in all its vastness… originated from this place?” they all spoke out simultaneously.
Ning continued to scrutinize the place carefully. His gaze fell upon the very center of the giant whirlpool, seeing through it as he scanned the many traces and scars within. They actually brought Ning many new insights, and he immediately said, “Jade Rainbow speaks the truth. This place is indeed the wellspring of the Blazesun Domain! The reason why the Blazesun Domain has such an enormous amount of energy within it is because of this place. It all stems from here. Stay here; I’m going to go take a look. No one is to disturb me.” As he spoke, he flew straight towards the whirlpool.
“Be careful, Master,” Su Youji called out with worry.
“Just wait for me here. I’ll be fine.” Ning’s voice echoed in the air, while he himself had already reached the area directly above the giant whirlpool.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The giant whirlpool was filled with limitless amounts of power, and the rumbles emanating from it were especially loud here.
The region around Ning began to be filled with his Sword Dao domain, which served to protect him. It must be remembered that Ning’s domain was able to slay even Hegemons with ease; to use it to repel the ‘water’ of the whirlpool was quite easy.
Whoosh. As Ning slowly descended, the Sword Dao domain ensured that the liquid flames were repelled and pushed aside.
“So that’s how it is.” Ning slowly sank deeper into the whirlpool. The region around him for three hundred meters was completely empty, with the liquid flames unable to move into it. The deeper Ning sank, the more stunned he felt as he saw how the giant whirlpool had been formed.
“So fire in liquid form can possess such tremendous power…” The more Ning saw, the more thoughts filled his mind. His Primaltwin had temporarily returned to the Azureflower Estate, and was making use of the Autarch’s stone dais to completely focus on understanding the profound mysteries behind the whirlpool.
A mere two days later, Ning had reached the Hegemonic level in the Dao of Water!
This was primarily because his Eternal Omega Sword Dao had propelled him to simply incredible heights of insight. It was like a towering skyscraper, allowing him to understand other Daos with far more ease. In recent years, he had continuously improved in many other Daos. This time, he was able to break through to the Hegemonic level in the Dao of Water with just one ‘blow’. However… even though he had reached the Hegemonic level, it still couldn’t compare to his Eternal Omega Sword Dao.
“The Blazesun Domain is filled with the power of the element of fire. Who would’ve thought that its wellspring is actually able to form a liquid stream which holds so many secrets of the Dao of Water? The way it has naturally formed has resulted in it completely merging the secrets of the Dao of Fire and the Dao of Water into itself. There’s no way to tell them apart.” Ning laughed, then his eyes suddenly lit up: “Why do I have the sudden feeling that I can merge the Dao of Water into my Sword Dao as well?”
Ning immediately sat down in the lotus position. His Sword Dao domain once more spread out to three hundred meters, pushing aside the liquid fire.
After Ning had reached Hegemony in the Dao of Water, he suddenly had the feeling that he was completely capable of infusing it into his Omega Sword Dao. This was something which happened as a matter of course, and as soon as he spent a bit of time meditating on it he immediately knew why.
“So… my path to Autarchy is actually different from that of the other Autarchs.” Ning was stunned. For the first time, he understood how he should break through to Autarchy. His lifespan was now limited, which meant he probably wouldn’t have the chance to do it… but he now knew what he should do!
From Hegemony to Autarchy… the paths which Autarch Bolin, Autarch Awakener, and all other Autarchs had taken were identical. They had first become Hegemons, then reached the Hegemonic level of understanding in other Daos as well! After gaining enough insight into Hegemonic Daos, they would finally and naturally break through to become Autarchs. At that point in time, they would reach the Daobirth level of ‘one Dao births many Daos’. It would naturally form a ‘Daobirth Essence’ which was capable of forming the prime essences of a universe.
Using this ‘Daobirth Essence’, the Autarchs were able to create alternate universes which would have prime essences that came from the ‘Daobirth Essence’ which the Autarch had devised.
“But I’m different from them,” Ning murmured. “Autarch Bolin… for him, his ‘one Dao’ which was the Dao of the Claw, while his ‘many Daos’ referred to all other Daos. They came to form a ‘Daobirth Essence’ which could also be referred to as a ‘Claw Daobirth Essence’. As for Autarch Awakener, his Dao was the Dao of Wind. He used it to reach the Daobirth level, and his ‘Daobirth Essence’ was the ‘Wind Daobirth Essence’.”
Ning had received Autarch Awakener’s legacy and had seen the Dao-guidance of Autarch Bolin. Thus, he knew that Autarchs were strongest in their own specific Daos. Autarch Bolin’s had been that of the ‘Claw Daobirth Essence’ as he was strongest in the Dao of the Claw; his ‘many Daos’ were only at the Hegemonic level. As for Autarch Awakener, he was most powerful in the Dao of the Wind, whereas all his other Daos were merely at the Hegemonic level.
“When they were Hegemons, all the Hegemonic Daos they mastered were all on equal footing. I, however, am different!”
Ning took a deep breath. “My Eternal Omega Sword Dao is simply overwhelmingly powerful. It far surpasses all other Daos, to the point where Daos such as a Hegemonic Dao of Water can be infused into it, making the Dao of Water part of my Eternal Omega Sword Dao! The more Hegemonic Daos I infuse into my Eternal Omega Sword Dao, the more massive and powerful it will become. After it accumulates enough, it will then undergo a fundamental evolution and catapult to a new level… an Autarch-level Omega Dao.”
Ning finally understood. If he became an Autarch, he would be an Omega Dao Autarch, the most powerful
of all Autarchs! Alas… Ning knew that this would be an extremely difficult path to walk. The other Autarchs ‘only’ had to master multiple Hegemonic Daos, then gain an epiphany and then break through. He not only needed to master those Daos, he also needed to figure out how to fully infuse them into his Eternal Omega Sword Dao! The process of infusion would be far more difficult than merely mastering those Hegemonic Daos.
If he wanted to infuse those other Daos and then evolve his Eternal Omega Dao, it would take time, luck, and many insights. The problem was, his lifespan was extremely limited; he only had a few thousand chaos cycles left. This wasn’t going to be even close to enough!
“Although I know how I can become an Autarch, I don’t have enough time. What a pity.” Ning slowly shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll first completely fuse the Dao of Water into my Eternal Omega Sword Dao.”
Ning immediately closed his eyes and focused all of his efforts into this task.
* * *
Book 39, Chapter 22 - Arrival
Time flowed on one day at a time.
“How long is Daolord Darknorth going to be training for?” Patriarch Treewind stared at the wellspring of fire at the very center of that giant flaming sea. There was an absolutely enormous vortex there, and at the center of the vortex there was a white-robed figure seated in the lotus position a few hundred meters deep.
“As I see it,” Imperator Jade Rainbow sent mentally, “Given that Daolord Darknorth has failed the Daomerge and has a limited lifespan, what’s the point of training? By now, he’s probably second to only the Autarchs themselves in power. If I was Daolord Darknorth, I’d spend the rest of my days wandering about and visiting all of those places of legend. I’d especially want to visit the legendary Sithelands. I’d definitely wander through that entire place. After doing so, I would be able to die contentedly.”
“Hmph. That’s why you aren’t Daolord Darknorth,” Patriarch Treewind snickered.
Imperator Jade Rainbow was startled by this comment, but moments later he nodded in agreement: “That’s true. He’s already failed his Daomerge, but he’s still intoxicated by cultivation… no wonder he was able to reach such heights.”
“Woohoo! Master, this place is awesome! C’mon, let’s have fun together!” The Flamewing God was happily rolling around in the sea of fire. Every so often, it would swim over to Ning, but when it saw how Ning was still meditating silently it didn’t dare to actually disturb Ning. Instead, it turned to wander through the other parts of the great sea.
Azurefiend, Hegemon Goodsong, Nuwa, Su Youji, and the others all watched this marvelous scene from afar.
“Such an awesome amount of power. If someone was able to take full control over it, most likely not even an Autarch would be able to withstand him,” Hegemon Goodsong said with a sigh.
“There’s no way it can be controlled. That’s the natural energy of the Chaosverse itself,” Su Youji said.
“Darknorth truly is formidable,” Nuwa praised. “He’s able to force the ‘water’ of the flaming sea to a distance of three hundred meters, just by using his Sword Dao domain.”
“But three hundred meters is nothing,” Azurefiend said, “Nothing more than a tiny little part of the entire flaming sea.”
……
They also benefited from their observations, but only Ning was at a high enough level of insight that he could understand the functioning and the mysteries of this place, the wellspring of the Blazesun Domain. Thanks to this place, it had taken him merely two days to improve his mastery of the Dao of Water to the Hegemonic level.
“The Dao of Water has now been infused into my Sword Dao. So this is the result…” As Ning slowly gained a greater level of understanding, his Sword Dao had become even vaster.
If a Dao was to be described in physical size, then Ning’s Eternal Omega Sword Dao had already reached an incredible height, the same height which an Autarch’s Daobirth was at, but it was even purer. Ning’s Dao was comparable to an Autarch’s Dao. The only problem was, it was a bit inferior in terms of its ‘breadth’! Autarchs had to upgrade multiple Daos to the Hegemonic level in order to reach Autarchy; in comparison, Ning was lacking in this regard.
Now, Ning was slowly infusing his Dao of Water into his Eternal Omega Sword Dao, causing its ‘breadth’ to slowly improve as well. Although its raw attack power didn’t increase by that much, it did change in certain other areas! For example, Ning’s Dao of the Sword was now as gentle as water, making it softer and more elastic when defending. Most important of all, after Ning infused the Dao of Water into his Eternal Omega Sword Dao, his Dao was even gentler in nurturing his soul and truesoul, causing the disintegration process to slow down by quite a bit.
“I understand now. As I slowly infuse more and more Daos into my Sword Dao, it’ll change as well. It’ll become more lingering, more dominating, have more vitality… or perhaps be able to pierce through even greater amounts of spacetime…” Ning was slowly comprehending the way forward. It would be hard for him to make his Dao any ‘higher’, but he could continuously ‘broaden’ it. As he made use of the mysteries of countless Daos, there would come the day when he gained that moment of sudden insight… at which point, he would undergo a final evolution and become an Omega Autarch! When that happened, he would completely surpass all the other Autarchs.
Alas… Ning himself could tell that he would need an extremely long period of time if he was to succeed. What he lacked most of all right now was just that – time!
“Although I’ll fall, at least I’ll fall while trodding the path towards Autarchy.” Ning didn’t feel the slightest bit dispirited. As he continued upon his path, he would at least have the chance to see the glorious light at the apex from afar. Even though he didn’t have much time left, every extra step he managed to take would bring him a sense of accomplishment and gratification.
……
Time flowed on. Soon, Ning had spent over five hundred million years training within the vortex at the center of the flaming sea. Nuwa and the others, as cultivators, were naturally quite patient. None of them, not even a Daolord like Su Youji, would care about a short period of time like a mere half-billion years.
“What’s going on?” The Blazesun Ruler was seated atop the frozen throne on the altar, narrowing his eyes pensively. Below him stood a total of eight figures. These were his most important generals.
“Domain Ruler,” a stooped and short figure spoke out brightly, “We’ve laid down scouts in all of the likely locations throughout the entire Blazesun Domain. So long as Daolord Darknorth is still here, we should be able to find him. My guess is that he hasn’t left; he’s still in the Blazesun Domain.”
“But we’ve already searched the entire Blazesun Domain. We’ve gone everywhere there is to go and have questioned all the various races. There are no traces of him at all.”
“The Blazesun Domain is enormous. They might’ve fled into some particularly remote region.” The various generals began to argue and debate amongst themselves.
“Shut your mouths,” the Blazesun Ruler barked coldly. Everyone below fell silent right away.
“Could Daolord Darknorth truly have left?” A resentful look was in the Blazesun Ruler’s eyes. He had been lonely for a very, very long time. The only ones who could pose a challenge to him were the Sithe Exalts and the cultivator Autarchs! Alas, the Sithe Exalts had all been imprisoned and weren’t available for sparring, while the Autarchs were completely transcendent. There was no way to find an Autarch who didn’t go out of his way to reveal himself… and even if the Blazesun Ruler did manage to find an Autarch, he would never dare to issue a challenge!
“There is one last possibility.” The Blazesun Ruler’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Could he have gone there?” Even the Blazesun Ruler himself had only discovered that place thanks to a lucky coincidence. Every so often, he would go there by himself and train. He felt certain that he was the only person in the entire Blazesun Domain who had ever discovered it.
……
The Blazesun Ruler spent a total of three years as he passed through all the various obstacles. Finally, he arrived.
Rumble… a giant black warship suddenly pierced through a distant membrane and appeared.
“Eh?”
“What’s that?” Nuwa, Patriarch Treewind, Azurefiend, Su Youji, and the other cultivators were either silently meditating or chatting and laughing as they waited for Ning next to the realmship. They could all sense an enormous disturbance and couldn’t help but turn to stare into the skies. There, they saw that enormous warship appear, radiating that aura of terrifying power.
Nuwa and the others all jumped to their feet. “Not good!” Patriarch Treewind’s face turned ashen. “That’s the Blazesun Ruler’s warship.”
“Hahaha!!!” A deep, sonorous laugh rang out like the waves of the ocean, shaking every inch of the vast sea of flames, right down to its very depths. “I knew that Daolord Darknorth had to be hiding here! Hahaha… as I thought, Daolord Darknorth truly lives up to his reputation. He actually found the Wellspring Sea.”
As the laughter echoed throughout the area, the surface of the giant warship flowed apart to reveal an opening. A muscular, black-skinned man came flying out through the opening. The aura emanating from this man caused everyone present to feel a sense of fear. All of the cultivators trembled. None of them would be able to resist him; the only result would be a slaughter.
