Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

“Haha…” Emperor Goldisle laughed. “Not even close. Not even close! A hundred times this amount of fruit still wouldn’t be enough.”


“If you want an Autarch to revive your Dao-companion… if you actually owned the Crimsonwave Temple and offered it to an Autarch as a gift, you might succeed.” Hegemon Brightshore shook his head and laughed. “The fruits you have ripen every few thousand chaos cycles. Crimsonwave Temple can produce more and more fruit unto perpetuity.” Crimsonwave Temple itself was worth far more than a hundred times as much as all of the fruits Ning had acquired.

“Ah!” Ning instantly understood.

“So there’s nothing I can do right now, right?” Ning asked.

“Right. None of us can do what you ask. Only an Autarch can.” Hegemon Brightshore looked at Ning. “But at least there is hope. If your Dao-companion was at the World level or was a Samsara Daolord, the backlash generated by reviving them would be exponentially greater. By then, you would have no chance at all.”

“Right.” Ning quickly calmed down again. Prior to speaking to these major powers for the first time regarding the revival of Yu Wei, Ning had already mentally prepared himself for failure. Others might feel despair at this response… but Ning was actually filled with vigor! This was because he was still just a Daolord of the Third Step. Once he became a Daolord of the Fourth Step and further improved his [Heartsword] arts, he might indeed be able to acquire treasures that were as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple.

“What if I was really able to acquire something as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple?” Ning couldn’t help but ask this follow-up question. “How would I go about finding an Autarch then?”

“You wouldn’t need to,” Emperor Goldisle said. “The Dao Alliance would help you send the word to the Autarch.”

“Oh?” Ning glanced at Emperor Goldisle in surprise. The Dao Alliance’s resources truly were unfathomable. It was actually capable of sending information to an Autarch?

“But remember, given that Crimsonwave Temple is capable of giving birth to a new crop of fruits every few thousand chaos cycles or so, its value is far greater than that of the fruits you have acquired thus far. In fact, it’s worth much more than all of the treasures I’ve accumulated over the course of countless years.” Hegemon Brightshore smiled as he looked at Ning. “Darknorth, it won’t be easy for you to acquire something as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple. You need to mentally prepare yourself for this task.”

“If you wish to reap great rewards, you’ll need to be prepared for taking on great dangers,” Hegemon Windrain said. “For example, the Terror Starsea. The Terror Starsea was part of the Dawn War’s battlefield and is filled with many leftover relics and treasures, but it’s also filled with countless dangers. If you are willing and able to take on the necessary risk, you might be able to find Hegemon-level relics or even powerful treasures left behind by the Sithe race. It’s entirely possible that you’ll find something as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple.”

“Right.” Ning nodded.

The three mighty Hegemons didn’t dare to take on too much risk without a good reason, as they were the pillars of their respective organizations. The Terror Starsea was simply too dangerous; even Hegemons might die in there if they were unlucky. The negative repercussions were simply too grave, which was why it was generally only the Daolords who dared to risk it. Daolords only stood an ephemeral chance of succeeding at the Daomerge anyhow!

“Autarchs, eh?” Ning silently reflected on this term. Autarchs, the most supreme existences of the cultivation world, the leaders who led the cultivators to victory over the Sithe…

“We are unable to reverse spacetime and revive your Dao-companion. Darknorth, what else do you plan to trade your fruits for?” Hegemon Brightshore asked.

“Speak, Darknorth. What do you need?”

“Just state your requests.”

Emperor Goldisle, Hegemon Windrain, and the others all looked at Ning as they spoke.

Since reviving Yu Wei was impossible for now, he would have to focus on further strengthening himself. Only then would he stand a chance at acquiring a treasure equivalent to Crimsonwave Temple in value.

“Seniors.” Ning waved his finger, causing a series of runes to fly out. The many runes listed the various materials needed for Ning to train in the second and third levels of the [Sword Dao Body], the protective divine ability Ning had acquired from the deceased Sword Hegemon. There were four levels to this divine ability, and once reached it would allow Ning’s body to become comparable to the best Eternal treasures.

“Seniors, take a look at these materials. How much fruit do I need to give up for them?” Ning asked.

“Eh?” The three Hegemons and three leading Emperors all stared at the list, as did some of the other Eternal Emperors behind them who had yet to even speak.

“Hm. I’ll only need sixty of the coldflame cauldron fruits for this,” Hegemon Netherlily said.

“I’ll only need forty-five of the same.” Emperor Goldisle of the Dao Alliance smiled. The three mighty Hegemons and the other Emperors instantly looked at him in irritation. The items which Ning had requested were all extraordinary; as they saw it, at least fifty coldflame cauldron fruits would be necessary.

“Emperor Goldisle, you are going a bit too far. Yes, your Dao Alliance has many treasures, but how can you give such a low offer?” Emperor Islehide frowned.

“How are we even supposed to compete if you are going to act like this?” Hegemon Windrain complained in a rumbling voice as well.

“Haha…” Emperor Goldisle laughed loudly. “We agreed early on that we’d compete fairly with each other. I’m doing just that.”

Ning gawked at the sight. He also noticed that although Crimsonwave Temple had produced nine types of fruit, all of the Emperors were focused on the ninth fruit, the coldflame cauldron fruits. This made Ning realize just how especially attractive these particular fruits were.

“Seniors, I’ve harvested eight types of fruit on this trip,” Ning said. “I’m willing to use the ‘purepeace fruit’ to trade for the materials I just requested. Might I ask how many are necessary?”

The purepeace fruit ripened every 30,000 chaos cycles. Ning had 108,000 of them!





* * *





Book 34, Chapter 3 - Entering the Dao Alliances Palace of Immortals


“Purepeace fruit?” The three Hegemons and three Eternal Emperors exchanged glances. Although all nine of the types of fruit in Crimsonwave Temple were valuable, there were still differences between them.

The purepeace fruits, for example, ripened every 30,000 chaos cycles. There were 108,000 of them in each harvest. They were fairly numerous, and so the Flamedragon Realmverse’s six major powers were still able to acquire it through other channels. As a result, they weren’t all that desperate to acquire it. The coldflame cauldron fruits, however, only ripened once every 100,000 chaos cycles… and each time, only 300 were available during each harvest. As a result, people who acquired them would usually keep and use them for themselves! Very few were willing to trade them away, making them quite a hot commodity.

“For the materials you need? 80,000 of the purepeace fruits will do,” Emperor Goldisle said with a chuckle. “These things are still quite rare. They have their uses.”

The three Hegemons, Emperor Severfive, and Emperor Islehide were silent. Seeing this, Ji Ning understood that Emperor Goldisle had offered him quite a decent price.