Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

Two figures emerged from a dimensional tunnel to appear in the void above the Badlands Everworld.

“Brother Ninedust, you can go to the Waveshift Realm first. I’ll meet up with you in an hour,” Ning said.

“Is there something you need to do?” the Ninedust Sectlord asked.

“I need to make a few arrangements.” Ning didn’t explain.

“Got it. I’ll wait for you, but hurry up. Don’t dawdle! We’re already years behind most of the other Daolords,” the Ninedust Sectlord said.

Ning nodded, then opened up yet another dimensional tunnel.

Ning was heading to the Three Realms. The Three Realms was separated from the Badlands Territory by layers of dangers; ordinary teleportation methods were useless against these regions! However, Ning’s ability to transcend space allowed him to move directly to the Three Realms. He was going to place his most important Dao-cultivating treasure, the Stone Censer of Reunion, within the Three Realms alongside his Primaltwin.

……

The skies outside above the Waveshift Realm. Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord had gathered together here.

“So many people.” Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord stared at the vast, seemingly endless cloud-shrouded realm that lay before them. This was the Waveshift Realm… and an endless cluster of figures could be seen outside of it. Daolords, tens of thousands of Daolords! They had set up an absolutely enormous formation which covered the entire Waveshift Realm.

“I heard that Winesage was able to break through this formation and force his way inside. Quite a few of the Daolords of the Dark Kingdom and the Aeonians managed to charge inside alongside him.” The Ninedust Sectlord sighed. “Just looking at the formation, I can tell that I’m far from being a match for Winesage.”

“No confidence in yourself?” Ning smirked.

“Plenty of confidence. The Voidsea Jadeseals aren’t necessarily going to be won by the strongest,” the Ninedust Sectlord quickly said.

“Then cut the crap. Let’s go on in!” Ning urged.

“Let’s go.” The two transformed into streaks of light that flew straight towards the realm before them.

“That’s Daolord Darknorth.”

“Oh, Daolord Darknorth of our Dao Alliance?” The ten thousand-plus weak Daolords who were part of the grand formation didn’t move to stop Ning or the Ninedust Sectlord.

The Aeonians and the members of the Dark Kingdom would all be stopped, but all others were granted entry.

“Hurry up and let’m inside.”

“Daolord Darknorth seems quite confident. He actually dares to go inside with just one other Daolord partner.”

“Daolord Darknorth’s avatar alone is stronger than Yanmi. How strong must his true body be?” The other Daolords all chatted amongst themselves.

Ning and Ninedust… the two were significantly less well-known than the likes of Fiendqueen Dustrain, Winesage, Palace Lord Dawnstar, or the Radiant King. However, when they joined together they were definitely on par with the most elite of Daolords. There were actually quite a few who were like Ning and Ninedust, both incredibly powerful and comparatively low-key.

“I’m more powerful than you, but as of right now you seem to be more famous than me. That kinda pisses me off.” The Ninedust Sectlord sent Ning a disgruntled mental complaint as they flew forwards together.

“That’s because you’ve been too low-key,” Ning sent mentally.

“Yes, yes I have.” The Ninedust Sectlord agreed. “Now that I’ve become a Daolord of the Fourth Step, I need to find a suitable opportunity to spread my name throughout the Endless Territories. Hell, I should at least rank in the top ten in the Endless Territories.”

“You’ll have plenty of opportunities in the Waveshift Realm. All you need to do is just pick one of the other top ten and beat them, and you’ll instantly rise to fame,” Ning said with a laugh.

Watched by over ten thousand Daolords, the two flew through the formation and advanced into the Waveshift Realm, shoulder-by-shoulder.





* * *





Book 32, Chapter 1 - Solesky Begs For Aid


The waters of the river gurgled gently. Both sides of the riverbank were verdant green and filled with flowers of all colors.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Two figures descended from the skies. Ji Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord stood there amongst the wild flowers and shrubbery. The Ninedust Sectlord sighed in amazement, “I never would’ve imagined that the Waveshift Realm would hold such beautiful scenery within it. Everyone speaks of how dangerous the realm is. Can such beauty truly hold danger within it?”

“Emperor Waveshift was a truly extraordinary Emperor,” Ning immediately said. “The dangers within the Waveshift Realm are hidden and invisible. Don’t be fooled by how beautiful the flowers are; if you dare to run around recklessly, you’ll end up trapped in some truly dangerous places.”

“Really?!” The Ninedust Sectlord was startled.

Seeing this, Ning chuckled. “Haha. Don’t worry, we’re in the outermost perimeter of the Waveshift Realm right now. Even if there is any danger here, we should be able to endure it with ease. Come, let us follow this river and move into the core regions of the Waveshift Realm as soon as possible.” As he spoke, he began to walk towards the banks of the river.

“Are we going to follow the river?” The Ninedust Sectlord followed behind Ning, feeling quite puzzled.

“Yes, we’re going to follow it. It’ll be safer this way.” Ning didn’t explain further, because this was something he had learned from big brother Solesky. Clearly, Daolord Badlands had been able to use Numerancy to divine certain secrets here.

“The Waveshift Realm has ten layers to it; seven outer layers and three inner layers.” Ning continued to explain as they advanced. “The three inner layers can be considered the ‘core’ region, and that is where the Voidsea Jadeseals should be. We should move to the core regions as quickly as possible, but we’ll encounter quite a few dangers along the way. Both of us need to be careful and maintain a vigilant watch at all times.”

“Right.” The Ninedust Sectlord nodded.

Ning released his heartworld projection, using it to cover an area of ten thousand kilometers around him. However, he controlled it to ensure that it didn’t launch any attacks, keeping it in sensory mode. The heartworld projection was much more effective as a scanning method than heartforce or godsense.

……

The Waveshift Realm was simply enormous. In the blink of an eye, the two ended up spending more than two hundred years walking through it without reaching the three innermost regions.

“Daolord Darknorth?” A voice rang out from afar.

They were at the peak of a snowy white mountain. The two were crossing the mountain peak when they suddenly saw six figures appear off in the distance, with the leader being a dazzling beauty dressed in faint pink Daoist robes.

“Oh? Daolord Qianfei?” Ning said.

“What a coincidence. I didn’t expect to run into you here, Daolord Darknorth. Have you seen Daolord Solesky?” Daolord Qianfei asked from afar. She glanced sideways at the nearby Ninedust, but didn’t pay him much attention. Ninedust was not nearly as well-known as Ning. Perhaps many people knew the previous Ninedust Sectlord, but very, very few knew the new one.

“Big brother Solesky? If I did, I’d probably be travelling with him,” Ning said.

As the two spoke, they slowly moved closer and closer to each other. Swoosh. The two sides crossed paths then moved past each other, both sides continuing to stare intently and prepared to attack at a moment’s notice.