Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

“Everworlds have elementary prime essences within them, and those who die in an everworld shall return to those everworld prime essences. If you wish to twist spacetime and revive a Celestial Immortal, you would only need to resist the backlash from the everworld. Everworld’s are fairly weak; most Hegemons are capable of doing such a thing.”


“Otherverses are generally the same size as a realmverse. You’ve visited one of them in the past,” Hegemon Brightshore explained. “I think you understand that these otherverses have their own prime essences, and their prime essences are far more perfect than the ones within the everworlds!”

Ning nodded.

“The various otherverses all have their own prime essences. If a cultivator dies in one of those otherverses, his or her truesoul shall return to the prime essences of that otherverse. If you wish to revive someone, you must be able to endure the backlash generated by that entire alternate universe,” Hegemon Brightshore explained.

“As for chaosworlds or the void of space? They don’t have any prime essences they belong to, and so whenever a truesoul in a chaosworld is extinguished, its energy shall revert back to the Chaosverse itself. If you wish to revive such a person, you’ll need to be able to endure the backlash generated by the entire Chaosverse! This is a terrifying concept,” Hegemon Brightshore explained.

Reviving someone in an everworld was easy?

Reviving someone in an otherverse was hard?

Reviving someone from the Chaosverse was nearly impossible?

Ning’s face grew uglier and uglier as he absorbed this information. “What exactly is a ‘realmverse’? And what is the ‘Chaosverse’?”

He remembered that the Starflow race which lived in the Terror Starsea had once lived in a place named the Peacock Lotus Realmverse. A grand war had destroyed that realmverse, resulting in the Starflow race fleeing and moving to the Endless Territories.

“Our home, the Endless Territories, is a realmverse,” Hegemon Brightshore explained. “Its true name is the Flamedragon Realmverse.”

“As for the Chaosverse, it is the source of all things and is truly infinite beyond measure…” Hegemon Brightshore explained, “It is like a vast, endless sea. Realmverses are like small reefs within that vast sea! Otherverses are another type of reef, a fairly special type. All reefs are located extremely far from each other, and so the Great Dark is the vast emptiness between reefs. All realmverses are very, very far away from each other.”

The sea? Reefs? Ning was rather dazed by all this. The alternate universes and the ‘Endless Territories’ were nothing more than ‘reefs’, while the Chaosverse was an ocean?

“Then who is strong enough to resist the backlash from the Chaosverse and revive my Dao-companion?” Ning grew increasingly anxious.

“Your Dao-companion was only a Celestial Immortal. Although reviving her will be difficult, at least there is hope,” Hegemon Netherlily said.





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Book 34, Chapter 2 - Autarch


“Hope?” Ji Ning’s eyes lit up.

Hegemon Netherlily, Hegemon Brightshore, Hegemon Windrain, Emperor Severfive, Emperor Goldisle, and Emperor Islehide all secretly shook their heads. Hegemon Netherlily continued, “There is no way for an Eternal Emperor to resist the backlash from the Chaosverse. Only those legendary figures who are even more powerful than Eternal Emperors can accomplish it… only they can reverse spacetime and revive your Dao-companion.”

“Even more powerful than Eternal Emperors?” Ning was stunned, as were Ninedust and Winesage. There was a level of power beyond that of the Eternal Emperors?

“The Chaosverse is vast and without end, filled with realmverses and otherverses.” Hegemon Netherlily’s voice was soft and drifting. “The most powerful figures who stand at the apex of each realmverse or otherverse are almost always the Hegemons! However… the vast Chaosverse has figures of even greater power. We respectfully address them as ‘Autarch’.”

“Autarch?” Ning immediately engraved this title into his heart.

Hegemon Brightshore nodded, a look of eagerness in his eyes. “Yes. Autarchs! Everworlds are created by Eternal Emperors… and otherverses are created by Autarchs.”

“They created the otherverses?” Ning was stunned. He had been to one of those alternate universes before. It had contained a complete set of prime essences, such as the Dao of the Sword and many other Daos. All of those things could be sensed! How could such a universe have been artificially created?

“Autarchs are the true and absolute rulers of the Chaosverse who stand above all other living beings,” Hegemon Netherlily said. “We Eternal Emperors have developed our own eternal Daos… but that isn’t the true apex of cultivation. Only by making repeated breakthroughs and raising your Dao to a level where it can become one of the prime essences of the universe can a cultivator be capable of creating an otherverse.”

“Autarchs are incredibly rare. I’ve never met any of them in my entire life.” Hegemon Brightshore shook his head, while the other two Hegemons revealed looks of envy and admiration. They hadn’t met any Autarchs either; they had only heard of them.

“When the Sithe launched that war, it encompassed a great many places. The main reason why we cultivators were able to gain victory over them was because we had our Autarchs,” Hegemon Brightshore said. “Although the Sithe were extremely strong and incredibly advanced in many areas, the Autarchs led us to completely wipe the Sithe out in the end. If it wasn’t for the Autarchs, we probably would’ve been annihilated or enslaved long ago.”

Ning, Ninedust, and Winesage were all speechless. Autarchs? So the highest level of cultivation in the Chaosverse was the Autarch level?

“They are capable of reversing spacetime and roam through the Chaosverse with ease! They are even capable of creating those alternate universes…” Hegemon Brightshore continued, “If an Autarch was willing to spend the time, he would be able to destroy even the likes of the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels that threaten and will eventually annihilate our Flamedragon Realmverse.”

“Autarchs are capable of destroying the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels?” The nearby Winesage couldn’t help but ask, “Then why don’t we invite them to help out? Are they really going to just watch as such a vast realmverse is annihilated?”

“You are mistaken,” Hegemon Windrain replied. “Autarchs view things through a completely different lens than the rest of us. An Autarch once said that all things and all creatures in the universe must follow the natural cycle of life and death. The Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels were born from the primordial chaos for the express purpose of wiping out the Flamedragon Realmverse. In other words, it is part of the laws and functioning of the Chaosverse. If they were to forcibly destroy the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels, they would suffer a backlash from the Chaosverse itself, and an incredibly strong one at that. The Autarchs are not willing to do such a thing.”

“Autarchs have truly transcended beyond all things. They are absolutely invincible, and neither spacetime nor karma nor anything else have any impact on them at all.”

“To them, the birth and destruction of entire realmverses is nothing more than the blooming and withering of a flower. I have never even seen an Autarch in my entire life.” Hegemon Windrain looked at Ning. “Darknorth, my young friend… only an Autarch is capable of rescuing your Dao-companion.”

Ning’s heart sank. He had to ask an Autarch to intervene? The three Hegemons had been around for countless years, but none of them had even seen an Autarch. One could only imagine how difficult it would be to actually get an Autarch to help out!

“Are these fruits enough?” Ning asked.