by RWX
Ning, however, had reached an Autarch’s level of insight. Even though he was in a prajna-state, he was able to remain somewhat aware of his surroundings.. He first accelerated time by 100x around him, then carefully continued his meditations.
Not just him; even the black-robed Primaltwin in the outside world had also entered a prajna-state.
Swish! A streak of black wind howled straight towards Ning. The meditating Ning was able to divert a bit of his attention to dealing with it, using the Water Sword Dao to form a curtain of water which protected and surrounded him.
“He’s still not leaving?” Exalt Bowenya was able to watch everything from afar. When he saw that Ning remained within the dimensional seams, he immediately ordered: “Continue. Do not stop! Since he has chosen to remain within the seams, bombard him with attacks until he dies.”
The black wind attacked again and again, but Ning continued to stand there without moving. If he entered a new spacetime continuum, he would have to deal with incessant attacks which would come from every direction. This black wind, however, was only able to attack roughly once every five seconds. Each time Ning used his sword-arts, he would be able to defend for roughly twenty seconds! During this period of time, Ning kept himself at a 100x temporal rate while continuing to maintain his prajna-state.
Time continued to flow on. After Ning executed the eighteenth stance from his sword-arts, his eyes suddenly lit up.
“Spacetime is alive and sentient in its own way. So this is the Spacetime Sword Dao!” Ning’s heart was filled with joy.
If he had been forced to just sit in the outside world and quietly ponder the mysteries of spacetime, it truly would have taken him over ten thousand chaos cycles to understand all of this! But he was in a life-and-death state in a region where spacetime had been manipulated to an unbelievable degree. Thanks to his mastery of the Space Sword Dao and the many insights it had brought, Ning had also come to understand some of the mysteries behind this spacetime maze, which had been developed by the Sithe Lord of Chaos and was incredibly profound and abstruse.
All of this had resulted in Ning entering a prajna-state, and in doing so he had shattered through all the obstacles in his path, allowing him to break through to the next level. Oftentimes, aeons of normal cultivation wouldn’t be as effective as a single moment of epiphany.
It had been a long, long time since Ning had entered a prajna-state. Generally speaking, the higher a level of insight you reached, the harder it would be for you to truly enter such a state. Back when he was young and living in the Three Realms, he had entered this state on multiple occasions. However, ever since he had become the incredible Daolord Darknorth, master of the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, he had never entered this type of state again. Although he gained the occasional insight, those were not true epiphanies.
But this time… Ning had a true epiphany!
“It seems that I, Darknorth, am not destined to die in this place. Nor are Mistress and the others.” Ning revealed a smile, unable to disguise his excitement. If the Paragon of Pills had truly died here, he would forever feel ashamed of himself.
……
Ning suddenly flew into one of the nearby spacetime continuums.
“I thought he’d just stay there for quite some time.” Exalt Bowenya smiled coldly. “This is my Daoguard Tower and my spacetime maze. He can do nothing save passively endure attacks from within my spacetime continuums, and in the end he shall die.”
Within the new spacetime continuum. Everything was blurry and indistinct in this region, but the air was filled with many flowing runes that brimmed with electric power.
Ning raised his head to glance at the runes. Given his mastery over the Spacetime Sword Dao, a single glance was all it took for him to discover the secrets behind how the lightning formation was connected to this spacetime continuum.
Rumble… Ning’s Sword Dao Domain spread out, quickly covering every inch of this spacetime continuum. It even reached out to penetrate spacetime itself, disrupting the lightning runes and bringing the power flowing through them to a sluggish halt. Both the lightning formation and the spacetime continuum were disrupted, making it extremely difficult for them to draw upon the power of the Daoguard Tower and then release it.
Previously, Ning’s only choice was to passively endure the hits while searching for the critical points in each continuum, then breaking through them. This time, he had twisted spacetime itself to disrupt the local formations. This was a testament to how much control over spacetime the Spacetime Sword Dao granted him.
“This spacetime continuum…” Ning inspected it carefully. He was able to instantly see that there were a total of 360 nodes here, but it would take him time and careful analysis to figure out a way to break through them without using any of his own power at all.
“Daolord Darknorth… what have you done? What have you done?!” Exalt Bowenya’s enraged and panicked voice rang out from far away.
How could he not be angry? He was in control of the entire Daoguard Tower, and as a result he could instantly sense that the spacetime continuum Ning was in was now unable to draw upon the power of his Daoguard Tower and no longer attacked Ning!
How had this happened? Why did the attacks come to halt? He didn’t understand!
“Could it be that he is incredibly talented in the Dao of Formations and was able to deconstruct the lightning formation?” Exalt Bowenya was puzzled. “But these are all top-tier formations. Even Autarchs would find it extremely hard to breach them.”
But of course, he had no idea that Ning hadn’t actually deconstructed the formation itself; rather, he had severed the connection between the formation and the local spacetime continuum. Now that the formation was severed from its power source, it was naturally unable to launch any attacks.
“Daolord Darknorth…”
“Daolord Darknorth!” Exalt Bowenya shouted repeatedly.
Ning completely ignored the Exalt’s rants as he continued to carefully analyze the local spacetime continuum. There were now fewer and fewer runes before him, awaiting his analysis. He was already able to merely use his Sword Dao Domain to deconstruct this spacetime continuum, but he continued his studies because he wanted to learn how to best deconstruct the other continuums as well.
All of these spacetime continuums had to share certain commonalities. The more he researched one of them, the easier it would be for him to understand the others.
Finally, however, Exalt Bowenya was no longer able to hold back. “Destroy!” Whoosh. The spacetime continuum Ning was in finally began to break apart. Exalt Bowenya was in complete control over this entire spacetime maze, and as a result was able to create and destroy new spacetime continuums as he saw fit.
“Eh?” Ning blinked, then chuckled. “Exalt Bowenya… since you are so impatient, I’ll hurry it up a little. I’ll be seeing you soon.” As he spoke he began to fly forwards, expanding his Sword Dao Domain as he flew. His domain quickly expanded to the point where it pushed against the surrounding spacetime continuums, which Ning glanced at with a relaxed smile on his face. “Every continuum within this spacetime maze is pretty much constructed in the same manner.”
Just two seconds later, Ning had completely taken over and destroyed the five spacetime continuums around him, while his Sword Dao Domain expanded to an even greater size.
Book 42, Chapter 18 - Iyerre
When Exalt Bowenya saw this, he felt as though a bucket of cold ice had just been dumped over his head. He was completely stunned, shaken, and stupefied.
As a Sithe Exalt, he instantly knew what the scene in front of him represented! Daolord Darknorth had been surrounded by five spacetime continuums, but he had been able to simultaneously destroy all five of them in two seconds. Clearly, the spacetime maze was no longer any danger to him at all, as he was able to easily see through the mysteries of spacetime they employed.
“I’m finished.” Exalt Bowenya’s face turned ugly. “Thankfully, I still have a bit of time left. The c
losest path to me will still require him to pass nearly a thousand spacetime continuums. It’ll take him a while to get here.” Bowenya began to frantically consider what options were available to him.
“Obey my orders!” Exalt Bowenya immediately began to issue new orders: “All Hegemons and Emperors, attack Daolord Darknorth’s position with everything you have. I’ll give you his exact location.”
“Understood.”
“Understood.” The various Hegemons and Emperors all acknowledged his orders. As for Exalt Bowenya, he took control over some of the Daoguard Tower’s treasures and used them to assault Ning, who was still surrounded by countless spacetime continuums.
Now that the spacetime maze was no longer of any threat to Ning, Bowenya’s only choice was to use his Emperors and the Daoguard Tower’s own treasures to attack him.
Boom! Whoosh! Slash! All sorts of attacks rained down upon Ning from every direction, passing through various spacetime continuums. Exalt Bowenya remained in full control of spacetime here, and thus he was able to make it so that the various continuums allowed attacks to pass through them without impediment.
Ning stood there without moving, his Sword Dao Domain active around him. He was able to use it to sense how spacetime was operating around him, and in doing so he was able to quickly dissolve the various continuums his domain touched. This time, he was actually a bit faster than previously. Every single continuum was deconstructed with ease.
What he needed to do was to get a clear picture of how each of the continuums operated. Upon doing so, he would be able to deconstruct them!
“Eh?” Ning suddenly felt a premonition that dangerous attacks were raining down towards him from every direction. “What’s with all these attacks?”
The Hegemons and Emperors were all scattered throughout the Daoguard Tower, which was why prior to this Ning had only had to deal with a single attack each time. Now that Exalt Bowenya had abandoned using the spacetime maze to trap Ning, all of the Emperors were attacking at the same time.
Some were so very far away that their attacks had to fly through spacetime for an extremely long period of time before reaching Ning, who was able to use his Illusion Sword Dao to dodge the vast majority of them. The only ones which were dangerous were the ones coming from nearby Hegemons and Emperors who were attacking from close range. The ones who were just ten or twenty million kilometers away were especially dangerous.
Whoosh. Ning was forced to use his Water Sword Dao to defend. His Sword Dao Domain was currently only able to expand to a maximum of eight million kilometers, and so these attacks were able to easily saturate this entire region with attacks.
Pop! Pop! More surrounding spacetime continuums were destroyed, with Ning continuing to deconstruct them faster and faster.
“Daolord Darknorth!” A voice rang out from afar. “I know that we are going to lose this battle. My only request is that you spare the countless mortals who live within our homeland. Give them a chance to survive!”
“Boundless, how dare you betray me! Attack! Attack and kill Daolord Darknorth!” Exalt Bowenya screamed frantically.
“Boundless… why even bother with him?” Angry, desperate, and grief-filled voices rang out. These came from the other Hegemons and Emperors within the Daoguard Tower, and the rain of attacks pouring down upon Ning began to slow down.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Just four seconds later, Ning was able to destroy four more continuums towards his left. He instantly saw the Hegemon known as ‘boundless’ who was controlling treasures from the dimensional seam beyond those continuums. He was looking at Ning, a pleading look in his eyes… and his aura was rapidly weakening.
His truesoul was breaking apart. Even his body began to break apart and decompose.
It must be remembered that these Hegemons and Emperors had all sworn lifeblood oaths to obey Exalt Bowenya’s orders! Exalt Bowenya had ordered all of them them to attack Ning. If they were perhaps a bit slow while they attacked or took it easy on Ning, that would be one thing… but if they suddenly and completely halted all of their attacks, that would constitute a violation of orders and therefore a violation of their oaths. They would be punished for it.
They had all sworn oaths with extremely heavy consequences. As a result, every strand of truesoul within Boundless’ body was breaking apart, as his body itself began to crumble and break apart as well.
“Brother Boundless.”
“Boundless.”
Many voices rang out. Quite a few of the Hegemons and Emperors present were Sithe descendants, and they all felt grief. Clearly, Hegemon Boundless had many friends amongst their ranks.
Ning gazed at Hegemon Boundless, who continued to stare at Ning with a pleading expression even as his body broke apart. Ning couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Why?
The Sithe descendants… they felt much more love and attachment towards this hidden dimension than the true Sithe did, as this was the place they were born and bred. They had lived here for countless aeons, and they were willing to die for the sake of their homes. Now that they had no further hopes of defeating Ning in battle, their only choice was to beg him.
“When I captured the other Hegemons and Emperors, I promised long ago that I would not destroy your homeland. There’s no need for you to worry.” Ning’s voice echoed throughout the Daoguard Tower as he continue to destroy the spacetime continuums surrounding him. By now, it took him less than a second for each ‘cycle’ of destruction. Ning could as easily deconstruct nine or ten continuums simultaneously as he could two or three. There was no real difference. Anything he could ‘see’ through his Sword Dao Domain, he could deconstruct.
“Farewell, Brother Boundless.”
“Brother Boundless.”
Some of the Emperors and Hegemons began to dramatically slow down their attack rates. They were bound by their oaths to continue attacking, but now they were just doing the bare minimum necessary.
Ning’s Sword Dao Domain continued to expand, reaching ten million kilometers, twenty million kilometers, and more. It gradually began to encompass some of the nearby Hegemons and Emperors, who Ning captured and transferred into his estate-world. Almost none of the descendants fought back; in fact, most were quite calm. The true Sithe, however, resisted fiercely, unwilling to give up.
Ning could sense the deep feelings the Sithe descendants had towards their home. This caused him to feel a sense of admiration towards them, but it also increased his distaste of Bowenya. Bowenya truly didn’t treat these people as living beings at all!
Rumble… the Sword Dao Domain continued to rapidly expand in every direction, destroying more and more spacetime continuums as Ning moved closer to the heart of the Daoguard Tower.
……
Within the dark room inside the heart of the Daoguard Tower. The giant formation-base millstone continued to slowly swivel, and next to it were three other formation-base millstones of varying sizes which were swiveling slightly faster and the big one.
Bowenya flew over to the smallest millstone. This one was merely three meters long and it was semi-translucent.
“Focus.” Bowenya took control over that millstone, pouring the power of his Daoguard Tower inside it.
Rumble… a pillar of blurry light instantly appeared above the semi-translucent millstone. The pillar of light slowly began to resonate with another distant location. Finally, a blurry humanoid figure began to appear in the middle of the light. The figure slowly began to solidify further, resolving into a barefoot, gray-robed man who had a benevolent smile on his face, one which seemed to whisper of the pity he felt for the plight of mortals. He was dressed in loose robes and was balding, but his body was extremely muscular. His eyes contained a strange, irresistible magnetism, as though anyone who stared into his eyes would be forever trapped within them. Not even Exalt Bowenya would dare to stare this man in the eye.
“Almighty Iyerre!” Exalt Bowenya bowed reverently.
The respect he showed came from every fiber of his being. He was l
ike a servant in the presence of the master.
“Bowenya, why have you contacted me directly?” The tall, balding, barefoot Iyerre cast his gaze across spacetime to stare at Bowenya. Bowenya felt both embarrassed and terrified, and as a result his voice became even more respectful: “Almighty Iyerre, I have discovered that this Chaosverse has given birth to a Daolord who controls an Eternal Omega Dao.”
“An Eternal Omega Dao? Yes, I’ve heard of this as well. His name is ‘Daolord Darknorth’, I believe. His name has been spread throughout this entire Chaosverse. My servants have notified me of this long ago,” Iyerre said calmly.
“He is currently within the dimension I control. In fact, he’s right here inside my Daoguard Tower!” Bowenya said hurriedly.
Iyerre’s eyes suddenly shone with dazzling light. He wanted very much to kill Daolord Darknorth, but he knew that the man would be able to summon Autarchs to assist him. Killing him anywhere in this Chaosverse would be extremely difficult. Iyerre was the supreme commander of the Sithe forces here, and his goal was to take over this entire Chaosverse. It was important that the local cultivators not even know of his existence.
Thus, all high-ranking Sithe had been forced to swear oaths not to divulge his presence! As a result, neither Ning nor the Autarchs even knew of Iyerre’s existence.
“Have you killed him?” Iyerre asked.
“I have not. He’s already solved my spacetime maze and will reach the heart of my Daoguard Tower soon,” Bowenya said hurriedly. “I’m no match for him at all.”
Book 42, Chapter 19 - Descent
“He’s solved the spacetime maze?” Iyerre hesitated slightly, then said in a calm voice, “I’ll send an Apocalypse-class servitor over. Remember, you must not reveal any traces of my existence.”
A hidden weapon was only effective when it remained hidden. Once his presence was revealed, the cultivators would be on their guard against him, which would drastically weaken the impact he might have. During the previous Dawn War, Iyerre could tell that the situation was unfavorable for them. Even if he led his forces in a final attack, they would at most be able to cause the cultivators to suffer heavy losses. Victory would still elude them… and so he instead chose to hide, waiting for a better opportunity.
