Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

The five Hegemons stood there, shaking with terror. They no longer even thought about fighting over the otherverse! They were stunned by this utterly terrifying squad that had appeared before them.

Ning couldn’t help but secretly sigh. Each Autarch had a different way of dealing with things. Autarch Titanos would generally completely hide his aura, while Autarch Ekong clearly was more dominating and imperious in his actions.

“Bah, Skyfeeder… the ownerless otherverse she picked out for us had actually been discovered by other cultivators already.” Autarch Ekong frowned and shook his head. Given his pride, he really didn’t want to earn a reputation for taking otherverses away from Hegemons. He immediately said, “Darknorth, have your friend go and bind that otherverse, I suppose.”

“Go ahead, Nuwa,” Ning said.

“Alright.” Nuwa didn’t hesitate, immediately flying towards that otherverse.

“As for the five of you.” Autarch Ekong frowned. “This otherverse was never meant for you, so you can forget about it. However… since you managed to discover it, we are bound together by karma. I’ll give each of you some good fortune. You can go now.” He waved his hand, causing a surge of power to grab all five Hegemons and send them through a spacetime tunnel that led to a treasure cache which Autarch Ekong knew of.





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Book 40, Chapter 16 - Return


The light shimmering over the surface of the otherverse rippled with unfathomable, secretive mysteries.

Nuwa entered it all by herself. Just a heartbeat later, the otherverse began to change and transform. The aura emanating from it began to retract, while the ripples were completely restrained as well… and at the same time, a flicker of green vitality appeared on its surface.

“This otherverse seems to have life in it,” Su Youji said with surprise as she stared at the otherverse.

“It is indeed filled with life,” Autarch Ekong said calmly. “Ownerless otherverses will operate in accordance with their intrinsic nature, but they won’t have a will of their own! Now that Nuwa has bound this one, Nuwa’s will shall become the will of this entire otherverse, and her life force shall become one with the otherverse. This otherverse shall become one of her incarnations.”

Moments later, the otherverse began to shrink in size before vanishing almost completely. Nuwa reappeared once more as the tiny little dot flew straight into her body.

“Disciple, where do you plan to station your otherverse?” Patriarch Treewind asked.

“Close to home,” Nuwa said. “That way, the people of my homeland will also be able to enter the otherverse and live there.”

Ning approved of this plan. Once an otherverse was affixed somewhere, it would become a foundation of power. Otherverses also had many uses; for example, one could use the power of an otherverse to warp through spacetime at the speed of a realmship. It could even be linked to the outside world via a stable spacetime tunnel! However, the longer the tunnel was the more difficult its creation would be. Nuwa was definitely going to establish a stable, permanent spacetime tunnel between her otherverse and the Three Realms, and so she had to keep it fairly close to the Flamedragon Realmverse.

Based on what Ning now knew, it seemed obvious that the Otherverse Lord of the ‘alternate universe’ which Ning had once visited, ‘the lord of the Church of Annihilation’, had to have a connection to Hegemon Brightshore! Otherverse Lords were in absolute control over their otherverses, as the otherverses served like their incarnations. There was no way that Hegemon Brightshore would’ve been able to ‘secretly’ establish a spacetime tunnel to it.

The reason why Hegemon Brightshore had claimed otherwise was because he wanted Ning, Skyfire, and the others to feel as though they were in a dangerous place. He wanted to ensure that they would be on their guard at all times; only then would this adventure serve its true purpose. Ning suspected that if the ‘protectors’ had died, nothing would happen… but if Skyfire Brightshore had been at the verge of dying, Hegemon Brightshore or the lord of the Church of Annihilation would’ve intervened to save him!

In other words, that seemingly dangerous adventure had actually been just a tempering experience for Skyfire Brightshore. There had been no real danger at all, and Ning’s group had merely served as his companions.

There had been no real danger… but of course, Hegemon Brightshore couldn’t let Skyfire know that! This was yet another testament to how much effort Hegemon Brightshore put into his race. He truly did pour his blood, sweat, and tears into making it prosper.

“Let’s go. We’re heading back to the Flamedragon Realmverse,” Ning said.

Autarch Ekong, Ning, and the others all boarded the realmship and tore through spacetime, once more warping towards the Flamedragon Realmverse.

Halfway there, Hegemon Goodsong, Patriarch Treewind, Imperator Jade Rainbow, and most of the others all departed. There was no way Ning would keep them around at all times, after all. Nuwa bade her own master farewell for now. She was going to go back home.

……

They continued to advance through spacetime, moving far more quickly than when they had left the Flamedragon Realmverse. The realmship tore through spacetime at frightening speeds, causing spacetime to twist into a dazzling rainbow tunnel around them.

“Darknorth.” Autarch Ekong and Ning were seated facing each other, sipping some wine and chatting casually. Su Youji, Azurefiend, and the others naturally didn’t dare to disturb them.

“What are your plans for after I deal with the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels?” Autarch Ekong asked.

“What CAN I plan? Haha. While I’m still alive, I’m going to wander around the Chaosverse for a while,” Ning said. “But of course, I’ll also analyze those Sithe techniques. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to create a complete technique that will allow me to somehow survive. If that happens, I’ll stand a good chance of becoming an Omega Autarch. Wouldn’t that be just perfect? Haha. I’m afraid to even imagine how wonderful that would be.”

“Who knows? It might just work.” Autarch Ekong laughed as well.

In truth, both of them knew that this was far too difficult. Even Autarchs would feel despair when they saw the marvelous, perfect techniques the Sithe used. Ning felt the same. He himself had the feeling that if he truly did devote all of his attention to analyzing those techniques, he might have a chance at surviving… but the amount of time needed would be measured in the hundreds of millions of chaos cycles, if not longer.

The short amount of time left to him wasn’t even close to being enough for him to accomplish this. Not even Autarchs could accomplish this! Autarch Awakener had been the most stubborn and had poured the most effort into it, but in the end he had still failed.

“I was joking just now. However… even though I’m going to die, I’m still going to advance along the path of the Dao,” Ning said. “Ekong, the five of you have already given me your techniques, along with the techniques of Autarch Entropos and Autarch Mogg. I’m going to wander the universe and learn as much as I can. I’ll make as many breakthroughs as I can. Even if I am to die, I shall die on the path I have chosen.”

When Ning had recorded his Eternal Omega Dao technique, the various Autarchs had handed over all of their own Daos to Ning as well, hoping that they might inspire him somehow. But of course, Ning wasn’t to transmit them to any others; he was the only one permitted to examine them.

In the Blazesun Domain, Ning had mastered the mysteries of water and then created the Water Sword Dao, which had benefited him quite a bit. Ning was planning to continue along this path and upgrade his other Daos to the Hegemon level, then slowly infuse them all into his Eternal Omega Sword Dao. This was a path towards Autarchy that would require an extremely long period of time. Ning didn’t have enough time, but he would still continue along this path.