Desolate Era (Book 31 - Book 35)

“I’ve found five of them,” the Brightshore Hegemon said. “These items are all incredibly rare.”


“I’ve visited so many places but still haven’t been able to acquire all six.” The horned youth shook his head, unhappy. “Only when I have all of these ingredients will I be able to fully master my Empyrean Yang-Nine Ki! Ugh… if I had already mastered it during that last struggle, I might’ve become an Otherverse Lord long ago.”

“The Empyrean Yang-Nine Ki is one of the most supreme secret arts in existence. It won’t be mastered as easily as that,” the Brightshore Hegemon laughed. “I fear you’ll need to continue your travels through the Great Dark and visit a few more places.”

“I won’t be the only one. This universe of yours will soon be annihilated by the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels Wheels. By then, you’ll have to lead these young fellows in wandering through the vast world as well,” the horned youth said.

“The Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels.” The Brightshore Hegemon hesitated, then slowly nodded. “They are one of the most terrifying natural calamities the endless primordial chaos has ever given birth to. Cultivators are not able to resist their power. I’ll try to buy as much time as I can, but if there really is nothing to be done then I really will have to go out wandering as well.”

“Let’s not talk about such depressing subjections.” The Brightshore Hegemon smiled. “Let’s keep our focus on the Waveshift Realm. Given that even you sense something strange about it, it definitely holds a significant secret within it.”

“Quite.” The horned youth grew eager as well.

In front of them was a floating image of the scenes going on within the Waveshift Realm, and at the center was the scene of Ji Ning fleeing at top speed.

……

Right now, Ning was the center of attention of almost all the major powers of the entire Endless Territories. Even some of the reclusive Eternal Emperors were watching him.

Swoosh! Ning didn’t know and didn’t care about this. All he wanted to do was escape the nine layers as soon as possible.

Boom! Boom! Boom! One heartworld projection after another descended upon him, with the strongest one at the center being controlled by Winesage. Ning had no choice but to shrink his own heartworld projection in order to resist theirs.

Ever since Timedream died, there were three Heartforce Cultivators left amongst the most supreme Daolords; Ji Ning, Winesage, and Palace Lord Cloudwalker. Cloudwalker was the lord of the Palace of the Heart of the Brightshore Kingdom, which meant he naturally was a member of the kingdom and bound by the lifeblood oath not to kill another member. Thus, Cloudwalker had yet to do anything to Ning.

In terms of just heartworld projections alone, Ning was actually slightly superior to Winesage! But if he expanded his heartworld projection and made it too large, the power of his projection would drop.

Right now, over twenty second-tier Heartforce Daolords were working together to suppress Ning. Just four or five of them working together equaled a first-tier Daolord in might! However, these heartworld projections were a force of energy that couldn’t actually be ‘merged’ together, and so if Ning shrank the ‘footprint’ of his own heartworld projection, his foes wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.

“You won’t be able to escape, Darknorth.” A cold voice rang out far away. “Shaka and the others managed to tie you down for long enough. We’ve already set up an enormous cordon around the surrounding area, and I’m quite close to you. I think you and I should have a little duel. If I’m unable to defeat you, I’ll let you leave and cease my pursuit of you. Without my presence, the other supreme Daolords probably wouldn’t be able to do anything to you at all.”

“Winesage.” Ning continued to flee at a hundred times the speed of light. He barked back, “You want to fight me? Then come catch up to me first!”

Ning certainly wasn’t going to slow down. He wasn’t certain in his chances against Winesage, after all!





* * *





Book 32, Chapter 24 - Ji Ning and Winesage


Ji Ning continued to flee. On the way, he encountered multiple squads of Daolords, but none of them dared to engage him! Everyone knew how he had been able to fight against four supreme Daolords and kill two of them; this meant that Daolord Darknorth definitely was far too strong for them to compete against.

“It’ll all be up to Winesage.” This was what countless Daolords were thinking.

……

Palace Lord Dawnstar’s ranking was now second only to Ning and Winesage’s. He was carrying his giant machete on his back while seated in the lotus position at the peak of a mountain, staring off into the distance as a streak of light flew past. It was Ji Ning. Ning even cast a glance at Dawnstar.

“Be careful, Darknorth.” Dawnstar smiled at him.

“Thank you,” Ning said, then continued to flee.

Dawnstar smiled as he watched Ning depart. He was a member of the Brightshore Kingdom; there was no way he would stop Ning.

“The Palace of Immortals has actually ranked Darknorth above me. I want to see just how tough he is.” Dawnstar transformed into a streak of light that stayed a respectable distance behind Ning. “Winesage was just barely able to defeat me. Now that he has a Universe treasure, I wonder what level of power he has reached.”

Dawnstar was quite eager to see what the results of Ning’s battle against Winesage would be. It must be understood that the ranking given by the Palace of Immortals did contain certain unspoken rules. For example, if you defeated someone in open combat you would take their rank, such as when Daolord Dreamlore defeated the Radiant King!

Another way to gain a ranking was to be acknowledged by countless other Daolords. Ning’s feat of fighting against four supreme Daolords at once and even killing Timedream and Kingfreak was something which Palace Lord Dawnstar and the others would not have been able to do. Thus, the many other Daolords all acknowledged that Ning was second only to Winesage and as such he was ranked number two on the list.

Generally speaking, without a ‘real’ resolution to a fight one wouldn’t be given a ranking. The Ninedust Sectlord and Daolord Snowjoy were both extremely strong, but thus far neither of them had actually defeated one of the top-ranked Daolords! Ninedust had been surrounded by Kingfreak, Snowjoy, and Shaka; he hadn’t actually been able to beat any of them, while his fight with Fiendqueen Dustrain had also been inconclusive. Where should he be ranked at? Eight? Nine? Ten? This was a matter of dispute.

You had to either be publicly acknowledged by the other Daolords, or defeat a ranked Daolord in an open battle!

“He’s publicly acknowledged to be superior to me,” Dawnstar mused to himself. “Given my Dao-heart, his heartforce shouldn’t be able to shake me at all. As for close combat… I really do not fear Darknorth at all! They’ve actually ranked him above me? I’ll have to find a chance to spar with him, then beat him.”

Palace Lord Dawnstar was an incredibly proud person. He naturally didn’t want to accept the results of this new ranking at all.

……

“Winesage and Dawnstar were already ranked above me. Now, even Darknorth is ranked above me.” A red-robed youth clutching a blood-colored blade was glaring off into the distance, a desire to do battle radiating from him. “I actually beat the Radiant King. The only problem is, I haven’t actually run into Dawnstar or Darknorth yet!”

Daolord Dreamlore was very conceited. He didn’t want to bother with challenging ordinary Daolords; the first one he challenged was the Radiant King, despite the fact that none of the treasures of the Waveshift Realm had even appeared! In the end, he had actually won!

Right now, he wanted to challenge Dawnstar and Darknorth! If he won, he would then go on to challenge Winesage!