Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

“Clan leader.” The tied-up equine was still rather unwilling to accept this outcome. “I-I…”

“Just look at yourself. You’ve been tied up like a baby.” The flaming equine turned to look at Ning. “This young fellow’s sword-arts can switch between being supremely hard and supremely soft, between being fast and being slow, and is defensively impenetrable. It truly has no weaknesses at all. As soon as he unleashed his full power, he instantly captured you. Although it was partially because of your own over-confidence, even if you were careful you still probably wouldn’t have been able to hold out too long.”

Ning was secretly startled. The clan leader really had good judgment. It was true that part of the reason why he had been able to instantly capture the flaming equine was because he hadn’t used the [Heartsword] art during the past ten-plus days. His sudden usage of it and the corresponding increase in power had caught the flaming equine off-guard, allowing him to catch it with ease. If his foe was prepared, Ning still would’ve been able to capture him, but it wouldn’t have been nearly this easy.

“Alright.” The captured equine nodded submissively. The clan leader’s prestige was quite high and had a suppressive effect on it.

“Young fellow, you won. From this moment forth, our two clans will no longer stand in your path.” The flaming equine leader looked at Ning.

Ning waved his hand, retracting the Northbow swords which had been wrapped around the flaming equine and drawing them back into his hands.

“These two battles have benefited me tremendously,” Ning said with a respectful bow.

Whoosh. The similarly stately and reserved leader of the sea dragons flew out of deep blue sea and towards Ning. It landed next to Ning, then let out a laugh: “Hah! It has been a very, very long time since a Daolord has passed the trials.”

“When was the last time a Daolord passed the trials?” Ning asked curiously.

“Very long ago, more than nine hundred thousand chaos cycles ago.” The sea dragon leader peered at Ning. “I think his name was Daolord Coldsky.”

“Coldsky?” Ning was puzzled.

“Daolord Coldsky? Who?” Ninedust was puzzled as well.

Anyone capable of passing this trial had to be just as strong as the current Ning. By all rights, he should’ve been an incredibly famous figure. Even though nearly a million chaos cycles had gone by and very few would’ve remembered him, people like Ning and Ninedust who had access to many historical records and secrets should’ve heard of him. They knew all of the most dazzling and most talented Daolords in history. Neither, however, had ever heard of an incredibly talented Daolord by the name of Daolord Coldsky.

“Back then, Daolord Coldsky said that he belonged to a different branch of the Aeonian race. He had been invited here to help out the Flamedragon branch,” the sea dragon leader said.

“A different branch?” Ning and Ninedust were both shocked.

“Other realmverses also have Aeonians?” Ning was puzzled.

“The Aeonian race has quite an extraordinary background.” The sea dragon leader smiled. “The ones in the Flamedragon Realmverse represent nothing more than a single branch of that race. Otherwise, how could they possibly have acquired a treasure like this ‘Aeonian Kingdom’?”

Ning and Ninedust were both enlightened. Indeed, the Aeonian Kingdom was a place which not even Hegemons dared to trespass within. It really wasn’t a treasure which the local Aeonians, a race which merely had a few Eternal Emperors, would’ve been able to create on their own. Ning had always believed that the Aeonians must’ve acquired it somewhere when adventuring. Now, it seemed, it was actually created.

“Daolord Coldsky had already failed his Daomerge, but before his death he was invited to come here to the Flamedragon Realmverse. Ignoring the cost to his vitality, he consecutively defeated two of the younger members of our two races. By the time the battles concluded, his truesoul’s collapse had been hastened to the point where he only had less than a hundred thousand years to live.” The sea dragon leader shook its head and sighed. “The more monstrously talented a Daolord, the more difficult the Daomerge. A pity, what a pity.”

Ning felt mixed emotions in his heart. If he failed his Daomerge, he would probably do everything he could to help the Three Realms.

Once the Daomerge was failed, one’s truesoul would slowly crumble apart. If one actively avoided using divine power and Immortal energy, one might be able to live for a bit longer… but engaging in combat would result in hastening the truesoul’s collapse! The more times one fought, the more quickly one’s truesoul would decay and the shorter one’s lifespan would become. When the truesoul finally, truly collapsed… one would die.





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Book 35, Chapter 9 - Omnigeddon Bloodfruit Tree


“The Flamedragon branch of the Aeonian race will generally send people once every million chaos cycles to harvest some fruit from this omnigeddon bloodfruit tree.” The sea dragon leader’s voice was quite calm: “That’s because every million chaos cycles, this omnigeddon bloodfruit tree will be filled with a complete harvest of fruit. They’ll either send their own Daolords or ask some extremely powerful Daolords to help out.”

Ji Ning and Ninedust both nodded. Generally speaking, every two or three ‘eras’ there would be a Daolord on par with the current Ning. Some would have techniques like the [Heartsword] art, some would have Universe treasures, some would have other special weapons. Daolord Dreamlore, for example, had a very unique ‘bloodblade’, while Ning had an incredibly powerful Hegemon armor which was on par with the bloodblade in might. However, the Hegemon armor was obviously meant for defense. Another good example would be the six lifeblood weapons which Ning wielded; all of them had been raised to incredibly high levels.

Powerful Eternal Emperors lived extremely long lives and generally were able to raise their lifeblood weapons to extremely high levels, but Daolords had short lives. It was generally very hard for them to upgrade their lifeblood weapons significantly… but every so often, there would be a freak like Ning. Ning’s Northbow swords were incredibly powerful weapons; by now, they made his Heavenbreaker stance and Blood Drop stance five times more powerful than normal! If the Daolord himself was also quite powerful, it was entirely possible for the Daolord to reach the same level as the Archons of the eight Sacred Cities.

“If my guess is correct… you weren’t invited here by the Aeonians, were you?” The sea dragon leader smiled.

“What?”

“They weren’t invited by the Aeonians?”

“How is this possible?” Quite a few of the airborne beasts were astonished. Most of them had assumed that Ning and Ninedust had to have been invited here by the Aeonians.

Ning and Ninedust felt their hearts lurch.

“From the moment you arrived,” the flaming equine leader added, “I could tell that you know almost nothing about this place. If the Aeonians invited you here, you should be quite familiar with this place and its rules… but you didn’t even know the basics about the trials and its rules.”

Ning and Ninedust felt resigned. They really didn’t know anything about this place. Ninedust sent mentally, “Darknorth, if these beasts attack us I’ll lead you in an immediate escape.”

“Don’t worry, you two. We’re here on the Autarch’s orders to protect this place and will bar any Daolords or Emperors who seek to approach,” the sea dragon leader said with a laugh. “We won’t stop any who pass our trials. Whether you are an Aeonian or not is none of our business.”

“Don’t worry, if we wanted to kill you, we would’ve done so long ago.” The flaming equine leader could also tell that Ning and Ninedust both had misgivings.