Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

“You cannot. A single verdant azuresoul isn’t valuable enough,” the black-robed man explained. “However, if you can find a Chaos Primordial and have it eat the verdant azuresoul, then give that Chaos Primordial to an Autarch? That would be enough to convince the Autarch to intervene.”


“Chaos Primordials are simply too rare, while the endless Chaosverse is far too vast. Finding one is a matter of luck,” the black-robed man said. “Alright. I’ve already given you each what you deserve. Remember – you are not permitted to tell others of what you encountered here,” the black-robed man instructed.

“Understood.”

Ning and Ninedust both immediately swore lifeblood oaths. Ning and Ninedust then felt space twist around them, followed by them reappearing within the Sithe ruins.

“I’m leaving now,” the statue said. Suddenly, it transformed into an actual three-headed leonine beast that transformed into a streak of light that flew out of the mountains. “If you can succeed in your Daomerges, perhaps we might meet again.”

Ning and Ninedust both watched as the statue flew away.

……

A short while later, Ning and Ninedust left the Sithe ruins as well, returning to the surface of the planet.

Hundreds of millions of years had gone by. By now, Darknorth Palace had reached an utterly towering level of strength, while the three great clans remained hidden within their headquarters and not daring to come out.

The three great clans were simply terrified. They had always relied on their clan leaders, who had been completely wiped out. They naturally didn’t dare to take any further risks, and thus they had come to a decision: “After 108,000 chaos cycles, our three great clans will once more make our presence known within the world. By then, Daolord Darknorth would’ve definitely died. I refuse to believe that such a freakishly strong Daolord can succeed in the Daomerge.”

Ning and Ninedust secretly inspected the world for a period of time, then quietly slipped away without causing any damage to the barriers or wards surrounding the three great clans.

“Time to leave.”

“Let’s go back to the Endless Territories.” With the treasures they had acquired from the Sithe lands in tow, Ning and Ninedust embarked upon their return journey.

By now, Ning had reached an even more profound level in his Omega Sword Dao – Blood Drop. It was now much more powerful, and thus as the two tore through spacetime in the Great Dark they only had to spend a total of a bit over three hundred years before they reached the Endless Territories again.





* * *





Book 35, Chapter 1 - Realmship


Within the Endless Territories.

A dimensional gateway was suddenly torn open in the empty void next to an enormous, blazing star. A white-robed youth and a silver-robed man stepped out from within it.

“We’re back! Haha, we’re back in the Endless Territories.” Ninedust laughed jubilantly, “We travelled through the Great Dark for so long without seeing any other living creatures at all. We didn’t even see any stars or chaosworlds. That sense of loneliness was truly stifling and oppressing. I can’t help but shiver when I think about how those Eternal Emperors choose to spend a million years traversing the Great Dark enroute to another realmverse.”

“Once we succeed in our Daomerges and gain eternal life, perhaps we might come to the same decision.” Ji Ning smiled.

“Yes… we have to succeed in the Daomerge. We have to! We made a killing off our visit to the Stone Hellephant Wall; to me, this place was just as beneficial as the Waveshift Realm was.” Ninedust was in high spirits.

Ning nodded as well. He had indeed benefited greatly from this trip. The greatest benefit lay in how they had the chance to memorize the Dao-guidance left behind by that Autarch. Next came the verdant azuresoul Ning had acquired and those six Emperor-class golems… and then there were the various Sithe relics they had swept out of the Sithe ruins.

“Unfortunately, that realmship we found was damaged. Otherwise, we really would’ve won a fortune,” Ninedust sighed.

“It wasn’t just damaged, it was in pieces. It would’ve been wonderful if Autarch Bolin had held back just a little bit and didn’t destroy the shuttle.” Ning sighed as well. “Still… if he really hadn’t destroyed it, he probably would’ve taken it with him when he left.”

“Yes.” Ninedust felt resigned as well.

Realmships… according to what the golems Ning had captured and bound had told them, these were flying shuttles that had been created by the Sithe which allowed them to travel between realmverses. Using these vessels, it was possible to spend less than a hundred thousand years in travelling from one realmverse to another! To powerful cultivators, this was a negligibly short period of time.

Even Hegemons found the trip from one realmverse to another a taxing one which required an extremely long period of time. Realmships, however, were able to accomplish it in a fraction of the time. They truly were incredibly fast, which meant they were incredibly precious as well!

There had been more than thirty thousand Sithe within the Stone Hellephant Wall, but only the two highest-ranking Sithe owned realmships, one each. One had been taken away by Autarch Bolin, while the other had been destroyed in the fierce fighting. Because realmships possessed regenerative capabilities, some of its parts had managed to slowly recover… but alas, the other parts were so totally trashed that they were completely unable to heal.

There were two parts of the shuttle which were in fairly good shape. Ning and Ninedust had each taken one of the two parts.

“A pity how severe the damage was. Less than half of it was remaining. There’s no way to use it at all.” Ning shook his head.

“We would’ve struck it rich if it was usable,” Ninedust sighed.

“Let’s not get too greedy,” Ning replied. The two continued to chat while separating themselves from the surrounding area, ensuring that no one was able to hear their conversation.

……

The golems they had bound had all existed since the days of the Sithe. They naturally knew a great deal about the Sithe race! Ning and Ninedust learned a great deal after interrogating the golems, including many Sithe secrets. At first, they hadn’t really even understood how important the realmship fragments they had collected were; it was only after the golems helped them sort through the treasures that they knew what a realmship was.

“Darknorth, didn’t we agree to go to the Aeonian Kingdom? This doesn’t seem to be the right way,” Ninedust said with some surprise.

“We’re taking a slight detour,” Ning said. “It’ll only take a day or two.”

“Something you need to take care of?” Ninedust asked.

“The two of us have been visiting some truly extraordinary places recently. Although we’re both confident in our skills, it’s also true that we can die at any moment.” Ning sighed. “I’m planning to leave a few of these Emperor-class golems behind in my homeland. That way, even if I do fail my Daomerge and perish, my homeland will be at least somewhat protected with those Emperor-class golems present.”

Ninedust felt a mixed bag of emotions upon hearing this. He asked, “Darknorth, is your homeland very weak?”

“Yes. I can be considered the strongest person from my homeland, I suppose,” Ning said.

The Three Realms… hundreds of millions of years had gone past, and it had grown quite a bit… but it was still quite young in the grand scheme of things. Thus far, it didn’t even have any other Samsara Daolords aside from Ning himself! How could Ning not focus his attention on it?