Desolate Era (Book 28 - Book 30)

“The greatsword-wielding leader was able to convince two other Eternal Emperors of the Dao of the Sword to stand behind him as they died. The three of them had to be incredibly close friends or family,” Ning mused.

An absolutely overwhelming amount of power could be used to cause other major powers to serve you, much as how the Eternal Emperors of the Brightshore kingdom all served the almighty Hegemon. But when everyone knew that death was certain… continued servitude was no longer contingent on mere power alone.

If you knew you were going to die but still chose to stand behind someone, it most likely meant that you felt tremendous amounts of affection for that person.

“Eh?” Ning’s gaze suddenly shifted to a nearby mountain range, located quite close to the three towering masters of the Dao of the Sword. The entire side of the mountain range had been completely carved flat, and the surface was filled with multiple paintings of that greatsword-wielding man. There were paintings of him in battle, paintings of him smiling, and even paintings of him drinking wine in a leisurely manner.

There were a total of nineteen of these paintings, and Ning could sense the deep emotions that had been infused into every stroke. There was an intense sense of longing and wistfulness in those paintings which hadn’t lessened at all despite the passage of countless years. Clearly, the artist truly missed the greatsword-wielding expert very much.

“Who painted this?” Ning mused. “It seems as though the artist had an extremely close relationship to the deceased.”

“Later, I’ll definitely have to go take a closer look at him.” Ning glanced at the greatsword-wielding expert.

It must be understood that the greatsword-wielding expert was one of the three dead leaders. When Ning looked at him, Ning could sense an aura that was not one whit inferior to that of the almighty Hegemon’s! The two other Eternal Emperors stood directly behind the greatsword-wielder, and the trials the three had left behind were actually linked as well. If Ning moved just a little bit closer, he would be drawn into a danger-filled trial grounds.

Ning had tested things out already. When he moved closer to the corpses, he hadn’t been pushed back by any invisible surges of power… but he knew that if moved any further in that direction, he would immediately be drawn into a world of trials.

“They really did leave behind quite a few treasures.” Ning couldn’t help but sigh.

For one, the greatsword which the leader was leaning on emanated an aura of incredible density and ponderance. Ning felt certain that this sword had to be a Universe treasure! The weapons which the two experts behind him were wielding were comparatively weaker, but they also had other treasures which had been placed next to their corpses.

As for the leader himself, there was a total of twelve treasures which had been placed in front of him.

……

Thirty-five corpses, three of which belonged to experts of the Dao of the Sword.

Still, Ning was in no rush. He continued his explorations, moving to investigate the other corpses. He even spent a bit of time inspecting the scars of battle, because he was already gaining some insights from what he had seen thus far.

Whooooosh.

The canyon wind howled through the mountains, carrying with it a mysterious, ancient aura.

“The wind.” Ning stood there in the center of the canyon, eyes shut as he focused on everything around him.

……

The world here was distorted and shattered, and spacetime itself was in disarray. Ning had entered this world, which was nothing more than something created accidentally due to the battles between those major powers. It wasn’t an actual trial-world, and so it wasn’t that dangerous.

Ning strode through the distorted fields of spacetime, avoiding the most dangerous places as he continuously meditated on everything he saw.

“Is this the nature of spacetime?” Ning murmured softly.

……

Fire blazed throughout this area. There was the corpse of a major power seated in the lotus position, and everything around him for a million kilometers was bathed in endless flames.

This major power had died long ago, but his Dao was eternal. As a result, it continuously attracted and drew in flames from the surrounding world, causing the conflagration to burn perpetually.

Ning stepped into the flames.

The closer he moved towards that major power, the hotter the flames burned. As Ning walked through the flames, he could sense a hint of an eternal Dao of fire which whispered through the tendrils of fire. Ning was able to learn much as he carefully attuned himself to each flickering flame.

“Fire…” Ning murmured to himself.





* * *





Book 28, Chapter 26 - Shadowless Sword-Intent


Time flowed on.

Ji Ning continued his journey through the world of the Prime Reaches, going through the various battlefields and scars that had been left upon the land.

While doing so, Ning came to realize that there were actually thirty-nine different types of scars! It must be understood that even Eternal Emperors who had gained eternity through the Dao of the Sword would all have followed different paths and interpreted their Daos in unique, special ways. Thus, there were differences in the ‘Dao vestiges’ they left behind through their attacks, making it fairly simple to differentiate the scars and markings into multiple ‘types’.

“Thirty-nine? There are thirty-five deceased major powers, and they match up to thirty-five of the Dao vestiges left behind. But there are four types of scars which don’t match up to anyone.” Ning was rather amazed by this, as he had discovered something else as well. “The Daos of those three leaders are all awesome and overwhelming, filled with inconceivable force. But one of the four types of Dao vestiges can be found everywhere, even though it seems plain and unremarkable. I spent more than three hundred years inspecting this place before I realized how terrifying it is.”

Most likely, that particular Dao vestige belonged to the Dao of Primordial Chaos. It seemed very ordinary, but when you truly delved deep into it you would realize that it had surpassed the level which those three leaders were at.

“In the battle that was fought, there was someone who was even more powerful than those three leaders.” Ning was truly stunned. He could sense that those three leaders should have been on par with the almighty Hegemon himself; even if they were weaker, they wouldn’t have been weaker by much. But this fourth figure… Ning had the feeling that he had actually surpassed the almighty Hegemon.

“There’s always a mountain taller than the ‘tallest’ you’ve seen.”

Ning shook his head. “But what in the world happened here, within the Genesis Lands of this universe?” Ning couldn’t help but sigh. Moments later, his eyes lit up. “Still… as far as I’m concerned, this is an enormous present for me!”

……

Ning had spent quite a bit of his time and energy on attuning to the various different Dao vestiges that had been left behind, especially the strongest vestige of a Dao of Primordial Chaos. Every so often, he would nap at the top of a mountain. At other times, he would sit down in the lotus position next to a river, listening to its waters gurgle. He would walk through an icy land of snow, then occasionally drift within the waters of a lake… and just like that, 6913 years went past.

“There’s a certain type of a sword in this world. It is unfathomable and inscrutable, traceless and untrackable. The moment it appears is the moment when the enemy shall perish.”

Ning revealed a smile as he drew out Violetjewel, then struck out with it.

Whoosh.

Both Ning and his sword both completely vanished, becoming truly traceless and untrackable.

It wasn’t a spatial teleportation. It wasn’t a secret art of some sort. Just like that… Ning vanished.