Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Iyerre, you’ve been suppressed by this Chaosverse to such a degree that although you are a bit more powerful than the native Autarchs, you are still on their same overall level of power! In the end, the weapons you’ve created are actually stronger than you,” the silver-robed woman teased.

  “It’s true.” Iyerre nodded in acknowledgment. “I might be weakened, but my artificing skills remain untouched.”

  Back in his homeland, Iyerre was so overwhelmingly powerful that these complicated artifacts and treasures were useless to him. A single palm from him would have far more power than any artifact possibly could unleash. Here, however, artifacts like the Grassland World were much more dangerous than even Iyerre himself.

  “What should we do next?” the red-robed man asked.

  “Shall we keep ambushing the other natives?” the black-robed man said in a cold voice. “The Grassland World can hide its aura and prevent the Chaosverse from sensing and locating it. We can keep hunting them down.”

  “No.” Iyerre shook his head. “Without question, the other Autarchs were notified right away once Bolin died! They’ll be extremely cautious and won’t give us another chance like this.”

  He wasn’t a fool, and he didn’t treat the Autarchs as fools either. Previously, Ning and the others had been certain that they were safe. They never would’ve imagined that such an overwhelmingly powerful weapon as the Grassland World would appear without them even being able to detect it. The Grassland World had been so powerful that it had only been forced to reveal part of its true power in order to slay Autarch Bolin!

  “Then what should we do next?” the silver-robed woman asked.

  “Now that you’ve already revealed yourselves, we should prepare for a frontal clash,” Iyerre said with a smile. “We’ve already killed one of the native Autarchs and seized the initiative! Now, hurry up and send the Grassland World to reinforce the four trapped temples. Go rescue my Exalts and bring them into the Grassland World. They’ll be of great use to you there.”

  “Fine.”

  “Very well.” All three agreed to the order. They all knew that while the Sithe Exalts were individually weak, in sufficient numbers they were still able to be extremely effective in battle. Unlike those foolish Autarch-class void dwellers, the Sithe Exalts had all reached incredibly high levels of insight into the Dao and were the equals of the native Autarchs in insights.

  “Let’s go. I’ll join forces with you as soon as I can,” Iyerre said.

  The blurry pillar of light vanished.

  Iyerre was in a superb mood. There were only seven Autarchs to begin with. Now that Bolin had died, only six were left! Several of the six had seen their original avatars destroyed, and their new avatars remained fairly weak. Another peak avatar had been tied down within the Annihilation Hive. On the Sithe side, none of their peak combatants had been lost to date!

  “Given the current situation, we should definitely be able to win a head-on clash.” Iyerre smiled.

  He had been preparing for this battle for many, many aeons. He had made multiple plans for victory, and as he saw it they were completely flawless.

  The simplest plan had been to gain victory through the Annihilation Hive! He hadn’t expected it to be resolved that easily, but fortunately he hadn’t placed too much hope on gaining victory so easily.

  ……

  A quiet, ordinary chaos planet. Ning was pacing around, filled with worry. Just now, he had received a message from Autarch Bolin:

  “I’m under attack. An Autarch-class void dweller has appeared, and spacetime has been frozen around me!”

  Ning felt rather uneasy upon hearing this. Autarch Mogg had been ambushed but had been lucky enough to survive. Now, Autarch Bolin had been ambushed as well? Did the Sithe feel confident in being able to breach the defenses of the Golden Bridge of Freedom? Had they really sent just one Autarch-class void dweller to accomplish this?

  “All spacetime around me has been subsumed by a vast world of grasslands. I can’t see to the ends of this world. The skies above me are filled with a thick layer of clouds that are incredibly tough. I’m using all my power right now to break through the clouds.”

  “I’ve finally broken through the clouds. There’s actually an even higher layer of clouds above me!”

  “An enemy in this world has just informed me that this place has a total of nine cloud layers, each of which is harder to breach than the last. I apparently have no chance of breaking through the final layer whatsoever, and it is supposedly protected by constantly shifting spacetime which will keep me forever trapped here at the first layer.”

  “I’m being attacked by a total of three Autarch-class void dwellers.”

  “Haha… I’ve managed to successfully persuade them into holding back. They’ve been forced to take part in this war and don’t really want to battle to the death. It was easy to persuade them.”

  Autarch Bolin continued to send one message after another to the others. Generally speaking, whenever the Autarchs were in a dangerous situation they would constantly send messages so that even if they died, the survivors would gain a better understanding of what dangers the deceased had faced and so wouldn’t repeat their mistakes.

  Time continued to flow on.

  “Not good. A violet-gold chain just appeared from the clouds. Another one just appeared out of nowhere.”

  “These chains are incredibly powerful. They have to be on par with Darknorth’s full-force strikes! They are not only strong, they are also incredibly profound. These chains are definitely being used with Autarch-class techniques. They are very difficult to deal with.”

  “Three chains… four chains… five chains! I can’t hold on much longer.”

  “Six chains! I can’t hold!”

  These messages came very fast, one after the other. As soon as the final message came, Ning could sense that Autarch Bolin’s aura had suddenly vanished from his message-talisman. The talisman had become an ownerless object, with Ning no longer able to sense any karma tying him to Autarch Bolin any further.

  The karmic links between them had been completely severed. There was only one explanation for this.

  “He d-died? Bolin died?” Ning was stunned. Not just him – all five of the other Autarchs were stunned as well.

  An Autarch had died!

  There had been dangerous situations in the past, such as when Autarch Ekong had been trapped within that temple or when Autarch Mogg had been hunted by Iyerre… but this was the first time in the entire long history of this Chaosverse that an Autarch had been killed. This was completely unprecedented! Autarch Bolin had just been killed? He was dead?!

  Ning felt many complicated emotions. Anxiety, sorrow, pain, grief… and smoldering rage.

  “This isn’t the time to grieve. Bolin’s dead. He was trapped within that world of grass, and as soon as those chains appeared he was killed. That world of grass is a hundred times more dangerous than the temples we faced prior to this. We have to be careful not to fall into the same trap.” Autarch Titanos was the first to send a message to the others.

  “Agreed. We can’t make the same mistake. Don’t let them succeed with another ambush! We now have two options before us. The first is to enter the Quintessence. There’s no way they would be able to enter the Quintessence without the prime essences discovering them. The second option is for us to maintain a vast domain-type sea of mana around us at all times. The mana will be infused with part of our truesoul, and so we would immediately notice them once they went anywhere near us no matter what type of masking technique they use,” Autarch Skyfeeder immediately sent.

  “We can’t set up a sufficiently large domain with our mana. I’m worried that their world of grass is so vast that it could still encompass and trap us when used from outside that range,” Autarch Ekong rebutted.

  “Our only choice is to join forces,” Autarch Titanos said.

  They quickly began to discuss what their next steps should be. They had paid a high price
for this lesson; there was no way they could allow themselves to be ambushed in such a manner again. As for hiding into the Quintessence? They weren’t really willing to take this option.

  Just as they were negotiating in the midst of their rage and grief, suddenly… a new message was sent to the six of them from Autarch Bolin’s message-talisman, even though it no longer had Bolin’s aura and appeared to be ownerless.

  “I am Bolin. I’m not dead yet!”

  Book 44, Chapter 23 - Trap

  When Bolin reflected on what had just happened, he couldn’t help but feel both a sense of fear and joy. When he had been assaulted by those violet-gold chains, he had immediately known that the situation was extremely grim. The chains were attacking with techniques that were just as profound as him, and as soon as all six had appeared he had begun to feel a sense of despair. The difference between them was just too great! Five chains alone probably would’ve done him in fairly quickly. Six chains had completely broken through his defensive lines.

  When his body had been lashed apart, he had transformed into his invulnerable form and attempted to keep himself alive. He wasn’t willing to give up until the very last moment, but as those chains had continued to lash away at him and his energies were completely annihilated, he began to feel a mixture of total despair as well as deep resentment in his heart!

  In that final instant before his death, he had suddenly broken through the final bottleneck in understanding the mysteries of life and death. He had reached the level of true perfection, and he immediately sent the tiny remaining bits of his dispersed energies which had been mixed into the clouds into a state of ‘false death’! This was a new technique which Bolin had naturally and instantly gained when he had mastered his Samsara Daobirth Essence.

  The ‘false death’ state was a state of neither death or life. It was quite marvelous, causing one’s aura to completely vanish and all karmic links to be severed. There was no way for anyone to sense his existence.

  In truth, Bolin had long ago reached incredible levels of insight into the cycle of life and death. His very aura had changed due to his many aeons spent meditating on its mysteries, and his skill in life and death was very close to his skill in the Claw Daobirth Essence. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he had already created the Claw Daobirth Essence, he probably would’ve long ago formed the Samsara Daobirth Essence.

  However, anyone who already mastered a Daobirth Essence would be influenced by it, making it incredibly difficult to break through in a second Daobirth Essence even if one had reached a high level of enlightenment in it. It wasn’t until the final moments when he hovered at the brink of death that he managed to understand his final flaws and reach perfection in this Dao.

  “So this is how it works. When I had merely mastered ten Hegemonic Daos, the accumulated insights were enough for me to vault into understanding the Claw Daobirth Essence… but in understanding the cycle of life and death, I had to slowly advance one step at a time. I was able to improve the power of this Dao and reach a level which was very close to that of my Claw Daobirth Essence, but it wasn’t until I personally was at the verge of death that I understood how to truly master it.”

  Bolin nodded to himself. “When mastering the first Daobirth Essence, it is easy because nothing interferes with it. The second one, however, is a hundred times more difficult. It requires constant, nonstop searching.”

  “Fortune and calamity ride together. I was driven to the brink of despair, but it allowed me to master the Samsara Daobirth Essence.” Bolin was in a fairly good mood right now.

  After entering the ‘false death’ state he was able to avoid all forms of detection, but of course he didn’t dare to take any actions at all. For the sake of making it look real, he had voluntarily abandoned his Golden Bridge of Freedom and some of his other treasures. He didn’t discard his message-talisman, however, because only Autarchs could use them. He had given up his many other message-talismans. The Sithe had never seen an Autarch message-talisman before, and so they didn’t realize what was missing from the many they had taken from him.

  He knew that his friends would probably be heartbroken once he entered that ‘false death’ state, and so he waited until the opponent left with his treasures and his bridge before stealthily sending them a message through the message talisman:

  “I am Bolin. I’m not dead yet!”

  ……

  This message completely shocked Ji Ning, Titanos, Mogg, and the others.

  “Bolin, you are still alive?”

  “Is this for real?”

  “Why can’t I sense your existence?”

  “Are you truly Bolin? Do you have any proof?”

  They were all so excited that they could hardly believe it. However, only the original owner of an Autarch message-talisman was able to use it. Logically speaking, there was no way for the Sithe to send any messages once Bolin died! At the same time, they also knew that Iyerre had reached a much higher level of insight than they had. It was possible that he might have a way of decoding their message-talisman, and so they felt a sense of wariness.

  “Ahaha! Don’t worry, I really am Bolin. Ekong, I’ll have my avatar meet with you shortly. That’ll be enough to prove that I’m telling the truth.” Autarch Bolin understood his comrades’ misgivings.

  Ning and the others kept their avatars fairly close together, as they had been working together on how to deal with the sealed temples. Ning himself was fairly close to Mogg’s avatar, while Bolin’s avatar was fairly close to Ekong’s true body.

  After just the time needed to boil a kettle of tea, Bolin’s avatar finished warping through spacetime and reached Autarch Ekong.

  “Ekong.” Bolin’s avatar, dressed in black robes, suddenly appeared out of nowhere without causing any sound or stir. No lines of karma appeared either. It was as though it didn’t really ‘exist’ in this world, but when he spoke his voice whispered across an ‘empty’ stretch of the void. Moments later, a few ripples could be seen followed by a towering array of castles appearing in the ‘empty’ region. Autarch Ekong was quite lavish in preparing his dwelling place.

  “Is that really you, Bolin?” Autarch Ekong stared at Bolin’s avatar. An overwhelming sense of familiarity flooded through him, allowing him to feel all but certain that this was Bolin, but he was still wary that this might be one of Iyerre’s tricks.

  “My true body remains trapped within that world of grass and is still in a false death state. I’ve blocked out all my auras and all karmic links for fear that the Sithe might be able to find out that I’m alive through karma, and so I was forced to do the same for my avatar. I’ll release a bit of energy; test it out for yourself.” The black-robed Bolin smiled as he waved his hand, causing a stream of energy to fly out.

  Ekong was delighted as soon as he sensed it. This type of energy was far too familiar for him! This was mana formed through the Claw Daobirth Essence! Each expert’s mana contained its own unique signature which was completely un-fakable; Ning, for example, had a pure Omega Sword Dao sheen to his mana!

  “You spoke of a ‘false death’ state? What type of state is that, for even us to be unable to sense you?” Autarch Ekong asked curiously.

  “I’ve already taken control over the Samsara Daobirth Essence,” the black-robed Bolin said. “Many secrets are hidden within both life and death. Entering a pseudo-dead state was quite simple.”

  Autarch Ekong stared at the black-robed Bolin, his eyes filled with curiosity. The man was clearly standing right in front of him, but all of Ekong’s other senses were telling him that ‘Bolin’ didn’t seem to exist. This odd feeling made him sigh with amazement.

  “So you’ve come to comprehend two Daobirth Essences? What have you gained from it?” Autarch Ekong asked.

  “Nothing special besides the fact that I now have two Daobirth Essences to use.” The black-robed Bolin shook his head. “We already know that Iyerre is more skilled than Mogg in space and more talented in illusions than Stonerule,
and that he vastly outstrips Titanos in artificing. He’s extremely formidable in every single area, while his specialty lies in light. Even without the power of the Dao, he’s still able to crush us in a fair fight. Now THAT is truly impressive!”

  “Those of us who reached Autarchy via fused Supreme Daos will remain ‘ordinary’ Autarchs. Even if we gain an additional Daobirth Essence, we’re still far from reaching the level of the Omega Autarchs,” the black-robed Bolin said with a laugh. “But of course, the power of the Samsara Daobirth Essence is tremendous and I’ve grown quite a bit stronger due to it. I’m also able to use these two different Daobirth Essences together. Who knows? Titanos might not be a match for me now, haha…”

  Different essences had different levels of power. Previously, Autarch Titanos had been the strongest save for Ning because his was the Karma Daobirth Essence. The Samsara Daobirth Essence was also an extraordinary essence, and given that Bolin had another essence as well, it made sense that he had grown significantly stronger.

  “Good, good, good!” Ekong was overjoyed. For someone on their side to be strengthened was wonderful news. He quickly sent word to the others, all of whom were similarly overjoyed. For Bolin to still be alive was simply wonderful.

  Autarch Stonerule suddenly sent to everyone, “According to Bolin, that world of grass seems to be extremely powerful. I’ll wager we haven’t seen its full power yet.”

  “Yes, it was absolutely terrifying. It completely dominated me! If I didn’t manage to master the Samsara Daobirth Essence at the critical moment and avoid detection via the ‘false death’ state, I probably would’ve died for real. Even at my current level of power, I won’t be able to escape,” Bolin said.

  Ning said, “Given how powerful this world of grass is, we have to come up with some sort of counter-measure.”

  “I’m currently right in the middle of that world. I know exactly where it is, so you don’t need to worry about being ambushed,” Bolin said.

  “Huh? Ah, right! Haha.” Ekong laughed.

  “Bolin’s within the world of grass, which means we now have a perfect understanding of its movements.” Titanos chuckled as well. This was an unexpected bonus.