Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

In his heart, he already had a complete structure for his Eternal Omega Sword Dao. Whether or not it was the correct one could only be ascertained through actually using it in the Daomerge.

“There are no mistakes. Such a perfect Dao has to be worthy of eternity.” Ning was filled with confidence, but since he hadn’t had the chance to simulate a Daomerge he had to be absolutely correct in order to succeed. The slightest of errors would result in failure.

“I’m out of time. There’s no way to stop the Daomerge. Time for the final step!”

Ning willed it, and with a rumble his Flower of Eternity went into full bloom, revealing dazzling amounts of radiance. The godgems in his body instantly went into a brand new configuration as well.

Would the result be eternity? Or a withering?





* * *





Book 38, Chapter 43 - The Curtain Falls


The Flower of Eternity bloomed with incandescent light, striving to achieve eternity… but then, its light began to slowly shudder. The transformed and reconfigured godgems also sought to stabilize, but they slowly began to tremble as well.

The awesome aura of the Eternal Omega Sword Dao emanating from Ji Ning’s body suddenly began to decay, with Ning’s own life aura weakening as well.

“No! I was too hasty!” In the final instant that his Flower of Eternity fully bloomed, Ning immediately understood where the error lay in his Eternal Omega Sword Dao

If he had been given a chance to simulate the Daomerge, he would’ve been able to actually test out some of the assumptions regarding his Dao and discover its flaws. But he hadn’t had that chance, and so he had to forge ahead without it!

Samsara Daolords took a total of four steps, and each step represented them treading the line between life and death! However, these four steps were all fairly short steps. They only led the Daolord to rise to a slightly higher level each time, which was why almost all of the truly talented Daolords were able to reach the fourth step. However, the Daomerge represented an enormous chasm!

Even when ordinary Daolords succeeded in the Daomerge, their power would rise by two full levels. As for supreme Daolords like Ninedust or Winesage, they’d immediately become Hegemons. Those slightly weaker would still reach the Archon level of power.

Ning’s Omega Sword Dao would have an even more incredible result. The mysteries of the Sword Dao alone would result in him improving by two full levels of power, but he also needed to infuse it with a perfect sword-heart. In other words, advancing from the fourth-step Daolord Omega Sword Dao to an Eternal Omega Sword Dao would result in an increase of more than three full levels of power!

This was an enormous step he had to take, and there was no chance at all to test it out in advance! Even though Ning’s preparations had been quite plentiful, in the end he had still made a tiny mistake.

“This must be the true Eternal Omega Sword Dao.” Ning opened his eyes. In front of him was a faint sheen of sword-light. It looked very ordinary, with nothing special about it at all. It seemed to have no aura, no presence… nothing.

Rumble…

Unfathomably far away from the Flamedragon Realmverse, there existed a place. This place was where the prime essences of the entire Chaosverse were located, including the prime essence of the Dao of the Sword.

“So this is the prime essence of the Dao of the Sword?” Ning’s mind could clearly and distinctly sense it from afar… and it was identical in nature to the Eternal Omega Sword Dao he had just understood.

Suddenly, a surge of invisible power swept out and surrounded Ning’s consciousness. This power was vast and overwhelming but also as gentle as a mother’s embrace.

Ning instantly understood. This surge of power was the power of the prime essences of the Chaosverse. The power was embracing his mind and… comforting him. It was as though the Chaosverse itself felt a sense of regret and sympathy towards this cultivator.

“So I am the only one who has ever comprehended an Eternal Omega Dao?” Ning understood what the Chaosverse was whispering to him.

There had been others who had embarked upon the path of the Omega Dao, but all of them had failed during the Daomerge! The vast majority of the failures didn’t even have a technique like the [Heartsword] art available to them. Much like Ning, they had only realized how stringent the requirements for their Dao-hearts were during the actual Daomerge itself. Most of them had failed due to this. Occasionally, there were a few incredibly talented Daolords who did in fact have perfect Dao-hearts, but in the end there were quite a few errors in the Eternal Omega Dao they devised. Even though they eventually realized what their mistakes were, there was no way for them to discover what the right answer was.

Ning had the Autarch’s stone dais, the Stonefire Pearl, the Daomerge Firecloud Flower, and other external sources of support. He also had a perfect sword-heart and was at a level of talent that was every bit the equal of anyone who had come before him.

In the end, he had still failed the Daomerge… but immediately afterwards, he had instantly realized what the true Eternal Omega Sword Dao was. Alas, it was too late! He was now in control of and the master of the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, but he had already failed his Daomerge. Each person would only have one chance at the Daomerge. If you failed it, you failed it. Even the prime essences of the Chaosverse couldn’t help but sigh on his behalf. Alas, there was nothing they could do; all they could do was function in the way their nature instrinsically demanded. Everything they did was simply an expression of their intrinsic nature, and in truth they weren’t fully ‘sentient’ by the normal definition of the word.

All they could do was feel and express an innate sense of sorrow and sympathy for this poor soul.

……

The Flower of Eternity withered away, its petals crumbling apart and falling.

It had been just a single tiny mistake, but that mistake was still enough to cause everything to crumble. There was no way for it to gain eternity.

Divine power and Immortal energy could be instantly recovered; they didn’t count for much. The truly lethal aspect of failing the Daomerge was the dissipation of the soul and truesoul. There was no way at all to halt or reverse the crumbling of a truesoul. No one was capable of it whatsoever. Not even Autarchs were able to do this!

The white-robed Ning within Vastheaven Palace and the black-robed Primaltwin in the Azureflower Estate were both filled with Ning’s truesoul. Their failure in the Daomerge caused the truesoul to begin to crumble. Ning’s soul and truesoul had become incredibly powerful over his countless years of cultivation, and the Nine Chaos Seals technique had further strengthened it to the Archon level… but it was of no use.

Hairline fractures had already appeared throughout every part of Ning’s truesoul.

Crack! A tiny, crystalline piece of truesoul broke free. This fragment was translucent and dazzlingly beautiful, but as it floated away it gradually disappeared into nothingness, returning to the prime essences of the Chaosverse. Those who had their truesouls destroyed in a chaosworld would see their soul fragments be reclaimed by the prime essences of the Chaosverse. Those who failed the Daomerge would see their truesouls slowly and naturally fragment apart, also to be reclaimed by the Chaosverse. When the final pieces of truesoul were gone, they would die.

They could do nothing but watch as they slowly died. This was a very cruel end, and there were some Daolords who would be driven mad as a result.

The aura of life disappeared from both of Ning’s avatars, and the truesoul within Ning’s main body and Primaltwin both began to crumble…

……