Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

“Everyone should die…” he mumbled. He had repeated these words far, far too many times.

“All of them are craven and afraid to move too close to me.” He stared off into the distance, his azure eyes filled with malice. He truly did wish to squish these bugs and kill them all! Alas, the little bugs were all quite cautious. After having been sealed away, his attack distance had become limited to a mere million kilometers. After he had successfully killed a few of those ants, the rest had grown cautious and stayed at least ten million kilometers away from him.

“Respectful greetings to you, Daolord Darknorth!” The distant cultivators all bowed towards Ning with tremendous respect.

“Eh?” The Exalt’s attention was drawn to this. It had been a long, long time since he had seen these cultivators treated someone else so respectfully; the last time had been when the Blazesun Ruler had come to this place. Yes, the Autarchs also received this sort of reception when they came, but there was no way any other cultivators would. This was because the cultivators here consisted of Hegemons and Otherverse Lords; it was extremely hard for someone else to convince them to display such respect!

“Daolord Darknorth? Huh? He’s a Daolord of their civilization?” He was puzzled. “Daolords should be weaker than Emperors in their system, right? Why are so many of them being so respectful?”

Although word that Ning had mastered the Eternal Omega Sword Dao had spread like wildfire across the cultivator civilizations, the imprisoned Sithe Exalt had not been informed.

“That feeling he gives me… wait. Something’s wrong. That’s no ordinary Daolord.” He focused his gaze on Ning. “And… he’s failed his Daomerge? In their civilization, the Daolords who fail the Daomerge shall face certain death. This Daolord has failed the Daomerge, but they are all so respectful to him… and he gives me a strange feeling, almost as though he is a match for me…”

Suddenly, his eyes widened as an enormous suspicion swept through his heart like a tidal wave. “Can it… is he… yes. There’s no mistaking it. That’s the only possibility!”

“A Daolord who can inspire such respect from even Otherverse Lords and who is a match for even myself… there’s only one possibility!” His azure eyes suddenly blazed with incredible luminosity. “Can it be that their civilization has finally given birth to someone who is in control of an Eternal Omega Dao? Thankfully, he’s a Daolord who has failed the Daomerge. He doesn’t have much time left; otherwise, he’d be a major problem.”

“A Daolord who has mastered an Eternal Omega Dao, eh?” The Sithe Exalt quickly came to this conclusion solely based off the scene appearing before him. It was an easy guess to make. The only way a Daolord who failed the Daomerge could be so powerful as to eclipse even Otherverse Lords was if that Daolord was in control of an Eternal Omega Dao. There were no other possibilities!

“Haha… if they’ve given birth to one, they’ll probably give birth to a second, a third, a fourth. Haha… are we finally going to lose? I hope we do. Let’s lose and end it all! Everyone should die. Everyone should die!” he mumbled, his eyes turning even more crazed than before.





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Book 40, Chapter 3 - Exalt Dauber


“The rest of you can stay here. No need to get too close to him,” Ji Ning said. “I’ll go and chat with the Sithe Exalt.”

“Be careful, Daolord,” Patriarch Treewind said hurriedly. “The Sithe Exalt can attack at any moment. Even though he has been imprisoned, he can launch attacks out to a range of one million kilometers.”

The nearby Imperator Jade Rainbow said, “Treewind, not even the Blazesun Ruler is close to being a match for the Daolord, much less this imprisoned Sithe Exalt. However… Daolord, Treewind speaks the truth. It wouldn’t be worth it if you ended up in a fight against this Exalt.”

“Haha, thank you for your advice.” Ning smiled and nodded, then began to walk towards the centermost region of this field of flaming light.

Nuwa, Su Youji, and Azurefiend all watched as he left. Flamewing hesitated for a bit, in the end deciding not to follow. In its heart, it couldn’t help but feel a bit of aversion towards Sithe Exalts.

……

This field of flaming light had accumulated all of the fire elemental energy of the surrounding area, concentrating it into a series of terrifying attacks at the center.

“Every single one of these strikes surpasses the maximum power of the Blazesun Ruler… but the Sithe Exalt is able to endure them with ease. No matter how I inspect him, I keep on having the feeling that he should be stronger than the Blazesun Ruler… but everyone in the outside world agrees that the Blazesun Ruler is on par with Sithe Exalts in power.” Ning stared at the Exalt, his heart filled with suspicions. Suddenly, his gaze focused upon the incredibly complicated formation-diagram that covered the area of ten thousand kilometers around the seated Sithe Exalt. That formation-diagram was the center and core of this entire field of flaming light!

The exposed parts of the Sithe Exalt’s skin were also covered by identical imprints of that formation-diagram.

“Now THAT is a nasty trick!” Ning sucked in a cold breath. “The person who set up this formation-diagram vastly surpasses me in the Dao of Formation.” Ning continued to stare. “And… this formation-diagram includes the Dao of Fire, the Dao of Illusions, the Dao of Darkness, and many other instruments of torture. Many are meant to attack the soul and truesoul. In all the Chaosverse, only the Autarchs could possibly set up a formation-diagram which contains so many Daos.”

Autarchs were at the Daobirth level, where ‘one Dao births many Daos’. Autarch Bolin had reached Autarchy via the Dao of the Claw, and he had also reached Hegemony in all of the other Daos! Formations, illusions… even Daos he had never trained in; he had reached Hegemony in all of them upon gaining Autarchy! Thus, Autarchs were naturally able to employ many different Daos in setting up formation-diagrams. The person who had set up this formation had mixed the various Daos together perfectly. It seemed as though the Autarchs weren’t just the strongest cultivators in the Chaosverse, they were also the most terrifying torturers.

“How much hatred must the Autarchs hold towards them? Why is it that they continue to torment the Sithe Exalts, even after the war has come to an end?” Ning mused to himself, “And this punishment is eternal and unending… wouldn’t just killing them be easier? Why spend so much time and effort in creating these formation-diagrams?”

“Or perhaps… the Autarchs have plans of their own?” Ning mused. As he pondered this question, he continued to draw closer to the Exalt. Eight million kilometers. Five million kilometers. Three million kilometers. Two million kilometers. One million kilometers…

Ning didn’t hesitate at all as he advanced. Although he was now within the range of the Sithe Exalt’s attacks, he didn’t worry at all. Even though he had the feeling that the Sithe Exalt was more powerful than the Blazesun Ruler, Ning had outstripped the Blazesun Ruler in both power and insight into the Dao. He was probably at the Autarch level of power, and if it wasn’t for the fact that his truesoul was continuously crumbling, Ning would’ve dared to actually take an Autarch on in a sparring match. How could he possibly fear an imprisoned Sithe Exalt?

“Eh?” The Sithe Exalt, seated in the lotus position with his head lowered, finally let out a little snort. The gray armor covering his body seemed rather rusted and old. He raised his head up, the curved horns on his head looking wicked sharp as he glared intently at Ning. A rumbling sound rang out from his throat: “You actually dare to approach me?”