Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

“Unfortunately, we aren’t able to reverse spacetime to revive your Dao-companion.” Autarch Titanos let out a sigh.

Ning chuckled. “There is one thing that worries me… the safety of my homeland! But I’ve already sent Nuwa to stand guard over it. If something truly dangerous happens, I’ll have Nuwa ask you to help out, Autarchs.”

“A minor matter.”

“That’s a miniscule request.” The five Autarchs all felt that this was very simple.

“There IS one more thing, but it’ll be a bit trickier,” Ning said. “My homeland is located within the Flamedragon Realmverse! Thus, I don’t wish to see the Flamedragon Realmverse be destroyed. The Terror Starsea is close to the Flamedragon Realmverse, and it has a slowly-growing pair of Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels. I’m fairly strong, but I can’t last too long in combat; if I tried to destroy the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels, I’d probably die in the attempt due to my truesoul collapsing. Thus, I would like to ask you to help destroy the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels.”

“I’ll handle this one,” Autarch Ekong said immediately. Although destroying the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels would be rather taxing even for the Autarchs, it still wasn’t an excessively major request.

Of course, they normally wouldn’t intervene in this manner as they would allow the Chaosverse to develop in its own natural manner! There was no point in them exerting so much effort for something of little benefit… but now that Ning had made the request, they immediately accepted.

“Anything else? These are all simple tasks.” Autarch Titanos smiled. “To be honest, the five of us feel like we have wronged you and owe you a tremendous debt. You have blazed a trail for us and brought hope to our Chaosverse, after all.”

“I really can’t think of anything else for now,” Ning said with a laugh.

His greatest desire was to revive his wife. If he could somehow manage to reach Autarchy with his Omega Dao before his truesoul disintegrated, he’d probably be able to avoid dying… but that was nothing but a foolish dream! The Autarchs weren’t capable of reviving his wife, while Ning himself didn’t have enough time. There was no way he could upgrade his Omega Dao to Autarchy.

“I heard that you were searching for Nuwa,” Autarch Skyfeeder said suddenly. “You’ve now arranged for her to safeguard your homeland. The more powerful she is, the more effective she will be in this task. Based on what I know, she hasn’t become an Otherverse Lord yet, right? There are some unbound otherverses within the Eight Domains. I’ll gift one to Nuwa and let her become an Otherverse Lord.”





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Book 40, Chapter 14 - A Perfect Technique


“Thank you, Autarch Skyfeeder.” Ji Ning revealed a delighted look. Finding an ownerless otherverse was no easy task, but it was quite simple for Autarchs because they were the creators of the otherverses.

“Darknorth.” The calm and stoic Autarch Bolin said, “You failed the Daomerge, resulting in your truesoul crumbling away. I have a treasure that can help fortify and stabilize your truesoul, ensuring that the crumbling speed is somewhat slowed down!” Autarch bolin waved his hand, causing a palm-sized white disc to appear in front of him. This white disc was covered with two golden runes that emanated mysterious ripples of power which caused Ning’s truesoul to feel very comfortable. Just as Ning was sighing in amazement, it flew into his hands.

“With this treasure, I should be able to live 30% longer than I originally anticipated.” Ning didn’t decline, immediately accepting it into his body.

“I have one as well. It might not be as good as Bolin’s, but it should still be of help to you,” Autarch Skyfeeder said immediately.

“Me too,” Autarch Titanos said with a smile.

“I can give you one of these toys as well.” All five Autarchs took out a variety items for Ning. Some were unique Sithe treasures, while others were naturally formed curios that were born from the primordial chaos. All of them were beneficial to the soul and the truesoul. In truth, the Autarchs really didn’t care about treasures like these, because they had truly infinite lifespans; why would they even need these things? They only thought of them after Autarch Bolin raised the subject.

Ning didn’t decline any of the offers. All of the treasures served to firm up the soul and truesoul, but of course using multiple treasures resulted in diminishing returns. All combined, these treasures would slow down his truesoul’s disintegration by nearly half. He would most likely be able to live roughly 60% longer than he had originally anticipated! But of course, if he had to engage in fierce combat then his truesoul’s disintegration would be hastened dramatically.

“Unfortunately, our civilization is far weaker than the Sithe civilization,” Autarch Titanos said with a sigh. “The Sithe have far more profound techniques, and they don’t even differentiate between ‘divine power’ or ‘Immortal energy’. They’ve perfectly merged everything into one type of energy, and their Daolords don’t even face any mortal danger during the Daomerge.”

“Their World-level cultivators become Daolords, their Daolords become Emperors, and their Emperors become Autarchs! None of them face any mortal danger during each step of the process. This is a truly perfect cultivation system they have,” Autarch Titanos said. “Our civilization, however, only has access to cruder techniques. Daolords tread the line between life and death with each step they take. The first four steps aren’t so bad, but the Daomerge is the greatest obstacle all of us face.”

“No danger at all?” Ning was shocked. He knew that the Sithe followed a completely different path of cultivation that was akin to the azureflower mist energy, which Autarch Awakener had created based on his research into the Sithe.

“Correct,” Autarch Skyfeeder agreed. “At the Daolord level, they can make repeated mistakes but still try again. Even if they fail the Daomerge, their truesoul will not disintegrate; they can try the Daomerge a thousand times if they so choose. Their only limitation is that there is a limit to their lifespan; if they cannot succeed before their lifespan comes to an end, they will die.”

“What?!” Ning immediately asked, “Have any of you received the Sithe training techniques?”

“We have. Many of them, in fact.” Autarch Titanos shook his head. “But it is useless. They are completely different types of lifeforms who were birthed from a completely different Chaosverse. There’s no way for us to use their cultivation techniques at all! We tried to make use of them long ago, and Awakener poured his heart into researching them, but to no avail. This was his greatest regret when he died.”

Ning couldn’t help but ask, “Can you give me those Sithe techniques and let me take a look?”

“Absolutely.”

“I have plenty as well.”

“Take a look, Darknorth.” The five Autarchs knew what Ning was thinking. The Sithe cultivation techniques were truly perfect, ensuring that there were no fatal obstacles at any stage of cultivation. In truth, this wasn’t all that surprising. There were no fatal obstacles for World level cultivators seeking to become Daolords, nor were there any obstacles for Emperors seeking to become Autarchs. Why, then, was it so difficult for Daolords to become Emperors? It was precisely because of existing flaws with their cultivation techniques!

The five Autarchs immediately handed over storage-type treasures to Ning, each of which was filled with many jade slips.

“None of these techniques are suitable for us cultivators to train in,” Autarch Titanos said. “You would have to retrofit them in order to make use of them. Some technical techniques are usable, but the cultivation techniques are completely unusable.”