Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

“Chaos Primordials and Sourcewalkers are born with far more exalted bloodlines than Chaos Godbeasts and Ancients,” Realmslord Windgrace said. “However… they represent even greater extremes as well.”


“Chaos Primordials are as unintelligent as mortal children, but are born with virtually indestructible bodies. In contrast, Sourcewalkers are very intelligent and have incredible comprehension skills. They are incredibly solitary and proud figures who do not dwell in ordinary places. They delight in dwelling in treasured places where countless streams of essence from the Chaosverse gather together, and they treat those places as their own territories,” Realmslord Windgrace said. “Unlike Chaos Primordials, they cannot be ‘tamed’; they are simply far too intelligent. There is no way one can force them to submit.”

“If you wish to go to one of those sacred places where Daomerge Firecloud Flowers can be harvested, that means you are going to steal treasures from a Sourcewalker’s territory. You will enrage them.” Realmslord Windgrace shook his head.

Ning pondered this matter. He wasn’t surprised at all. Although this was his first time hearing of ‘Sourcewalkers’, he had already heard of strange beings that were on par with the Autarchs themselves. Why would he be shocked to hear that there were certain creatures on par with Chaos Primordials in might?

“Sourcewalkers are all extremely intelligent, which means they do have a weakness; their bodies aren’t nearly as indestructible as that of the Chaos Primordials, and they are born with much lower levels of strength. However, they can slowly cultivate and grow with time! Thus, there are varying levels of power amongst Sourcewalkers. The weaker ones are perhaps merely at the Hegemonic level, while the most powerful were supposedly on par with the Sithe Exalts, capable of killing us in an instant,” Realmslord Windgrace said.

Ning relaxed slightly. If even the most powerful were ‘merely’ on par with Sith Exalts, that meant they were still much weaker than the Autarchs. It must be remembered that it took three Sithe Exalts working together to capture the Flamewing God; a single one wasn’t able to do the trick. Plus, he wouldn’t be so unlucky as to run into literally the most powerful type of Sourcewalker in existence, right?

“When the Sithe furiously invaded those sacred places to loot the treasures, they enraged the prime essences of the Chaosverse with their greed. The prime essences allowed the Sourcewalkers to borrow from the inherent power of those sacred places, resulting in them becoming much more powerful. This was why the Sithe suffered greatly for their actions,” Realmslord Windgrace said. “However… you must be cautious if you do go.”

Realmslord Windgrace suddenly waved his hand, causing a jade slip to appear. He then filled it with his godsense, imprinting it with a great deal of information.

“This is one of the closer locations. If you ride on your realmship, you should reach it in just a few hundred thousand years. As I recall, this place has Daomerge Firecloud Flowers within it. This slip now contains all of the information I know regarding that place.” As Realmslord Windgrace spoke, he delivered the jade slip to Ning. “Remember, the information I provided covers just the vast majority of situations, not all situations. I didn’t delve too deeply into that place either. You really must be careful.”

“Thank you, Realmslord.” Ning accepted the slip.

……

After having received the intelligence he needed, that very day Ning bade Realmslord Windgrace farewell and embarked on a return journey.

He had to first deal with Emperor Melobo, then take on ten honorary disciples for Emperor Mirrorsnow. Only then could he go adventuring with a calm heart. Anything was possible while out adventuring, after all. He might be forced to initiate the Daomerge for some reason, which would be disastrous if these karmic knots were not resolved.





* * *





Book 38, Chapter 27 - Emperor Melobo


After sixty thousand years, Ji Ning returned from the Hiddenfiend Realmverse to his homeland in the Flamedragon Realmverse, at which point his first course of action was to go meet with Hegemon Brightshore.

Whoosh. Hegemon Brightshore noticed right away when Ning and the others entered the Brightshore Kingdom. He appeared at the peak of a tall mountain, having set a banquet in welcome.

“Darknorth!” Hegemon Brightshore called out loudly. Ning and the others turned to look, then all flew over and landed. They sat down, with Flamewing naturally beginning to eat and drink with delight.

“I’m embarrassed to say this…” Hegemon Brightshore shook his head, stroking his beard after downing two cups of wine, “I thought I’d definitely be able to find Emperor Melobo within a hundred thousand years, but this Aeonian Emperor truly is slippery. I’ve been tracking him in secret, but I haven’t been able to find his true body. Recently, I asked Netherlily to help out as well. Only when the two of us worked together did we managed to find him roughly ten thousand years ago.”

Ning let out a sigh of relief upon hearing the words ‘managed to find him’. “I’ll have to thank Hegemon Netherlily,” Ning said.

“A minor matter. The three of us are usually quite bored,” Hegemon Brightshore said with a laugh. “Honestly though, Emperor Melobo really did hide his tracks quite carefully. He’s afraid that the Dao Alliance will discover him devouring some of their Daolords of the Fourth Step, and so he has been cautious to the extreme. Not even the other Aeonians know his whereabouts.”

“If you truly wish to go into hiding, you need to ensure that not even your allies know where you are. That’s the safest way to handle it.” Ning asked, “Oh, right. So where is Emperor Melobo currently?”

“The Orchidfall Everworld of the Orchidfall Territory,” Hegemon Brightshore said.

“The Orchidfall Territory?” Ning nodded slowly.

……

The Orchidfall Territory was an ordinary territory located within the Dao Alliance. Inside the Orchidfall Everworld was a powerful sect known as the Sacred Orchidfall, with the most powerful member being a Daolord of the Fourth Step who had quite a few disciples.

“You aren’t Daolord Orchidfall. Who are you?” An alluringly beautiful woman stared angrily at the plainly dressed man before her.

“Haha… my aura is Daolord Orchidfall’s aura, and my appearance is his appearance. How could I possibly not be him?” The man’s voice seemed quite strange and sinister.

“Daolord Orchidfall isn’t as powerful as you are. There’s no way he could’ve destroyed my avatar in just one strike, then caught me with such ease.” The woman’s forehead was creased in anger. “Who are you?!”

The man laughed, his laughter becoming even more evil and piercing to the ear. It echoed within the vast palace, but there was no one else in the entire palace aside from the two of them. “Who am I?” The man’s appearance slowly began to change, as did his aura. Soon, he had transformed into an evil-looking man with long red hair. His eyes were staring greedily at the woman in front of him, as though he was caressing her with his gaze.

“You…” A puzzled look appeared on the woman’s face. “An Emperor?”

“Oh, it seems you do not recognize me.” The long red-haired man let out a smile. “I am an Aeonian, the mighty Emperor Melobo. I am your savior, the one who shall rescue you from your doomed path as a Samsara Daolord.”

“What do you want?” The woman was rather nervous. Her power had been completely sealed away, making it impossible for her to fight back.

“You are absolutely beautiful. Whew. Such beauty…” the long red-haired man said, a blissful look on his face, “I have to say, Emperor Waveshift has truly been a blessing to the Flamedragon Realmverse. He gave us Crimsonwave Temple, and even techniques like [Vitalis]. As a result, I can now easily simulate the auras of others, allowing me to infiltrate the Dao Alliance and catch beautiful Daolords like yourself with increasing ease.”