Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

“Fellow Daoist Darknorth.” Daoist Bluestone looked at Ning. “I only wish to view your [Omega Sword Dao] once, and I’ll swear an oath to never show it off to any others! As for any requests you might have… just name them! I know that a grudge exists between you and Archon Silksnow. Just give me a nod, and I’ll throw the full force of my power against the Emperors of Silksnow Fiend Palace. I’ll wipe all of them out, including Silksnow and Bloodcloud, no matter what the cost is.”


It would be very hard for Daoist Bluestone to kill Silksnow and Bloodcloud, but if he was truly willing to pay the price he still had a chance to accomplish it. Daoist Bluestone looked at Ning, his eyes blazing with eagerness.

He was a man who cared about nothing save the Dao. For the sake of the Dao, he was willing to sacrifice a great deal.

“As for my treasures… aside from a few treasures that are extremely important to me, I’ll hand all of them over to you. In other words, over 99% of my treasures shall be yours,” Daoist Bluestone said. “I only ask that you let me view your [Omega Sword Dao].”

Ning was startled. To tell the truth, his original plan had merely been to divulge the existence of Daos that were superior to fused Supreme Daos. He hadn’t been planning to say anything else. Ning was only planning to leave his [Omega Sword Dao] behind for the Three Realms to study, along with a few select disciples of his. He hadn’t planned to make it public. That way, if he encountered a serious problem in the future, he would perhaps be able to use the [Omega Sword Dao] as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Hegemons.

For example, he could ask a Hegemon to swear an oath to forever help him protect the Three Realms, and so on and so forth. However… all of those things would only happen if he was unable to do something himself. It was a last-resort option! So long as Ning could handle things by himself, he wouldn’t be willing to transmit the [Omega Sword Dao] to others.

But today, Ning began to waver when faced with Daoist Bluestone’s offer. The man truly was sincere! Emperor Goldface had engaged in beautiful sophistry about ‘sharing Daos’ and ‘exchanging insights’, but Ning couldn’t be bothered to negotiate with him. He had over three hundred Hegemonic legacies; why would he care about Emperor Goldface’s?

Daoist Bluestone, in contrast, had been extremely sincere. He was willing to hand out over 90% of his treasures, and he didn’t try to give Ning any pressure at all. In addition… in his heart, Ning deeply desired to find someone to reverse the flows of spacetime and revive his wife. Perhaps Daoist Bluestone’s treasures would be enough to invite an Autarch to intercede.

Ning was going to choose a good number of disciples in the future and transmit the [Omega Sword Dao] to them. Letting Daoist Bluestone view it as well wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.





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Book 36, Chapter 18 - Naked Extortion


“Daoist Bluestone has far more treasures than the rest of us.” Emperor Goldface smiled when he saw the offer Daoist Bluestone had made. “But… the [Omega Sword Dao] technique is just a technique; showing it off to a few more people won’t cause you to incur any losses, Daolord Darknorth. We naturally will make sure you are properly compensated for it, and you can always use a few more treasures, right? As a Daolord, you haven’t trained for all that long. You probably don’t have many treasures yet, eh?”

Ji Ning frowned. Why was this Emperor Goldface so irritating? “It’s not for you to lecture me on who I should teach my [Omega Sword Dao] to, Emperor Goldface!” Ning’s voice was ice-cold, devoid of his earlier humility.

Emperor Goldface’s face tightened “You…”

“I imagine that the three Hegemons, Emperor Goldisle, and Emperor Blackcloud all know what I want the most.” Ning didn’t even look at Emperor Goldface, instead turning to glance at the other major powers. “The greatest desire I have had ever since my earliest days of cultivating has been reviving my Dao-companion! However… only an Autarch can do it. Thus, if someone can give me enough treasure to ask an Autarch to intervene on my behalf, I’m willing to fully record every aspect of my Omega Sword Dao for him to view.”

“Ask an Autarch to intervene?” The three Hegemons traded a glance while the five Emperors fell silent. Ning watched carefully, only to see that all of the major powers were completely silent.

A while later, the distant Daoist Bluestone finally spoke out: “Fellow Daoist Darknorth, asking an Autarch to help out is no easy task. If all three Hegemons pooled all of their treasures together… they might have just barely enough to get an Autarch to intervene. Although I was fortunate enough to acquire some Sithe treasures, it probably isn’t enough to get an Autarch to intervene. The materials to create a Black Emperor, I already used up. The remaining treasures won’t be enough. Brightshore, Windrain, Netherlily… would you three Hegemons be willing to work with me to come up with the sum needed to approach an Autarch? Darknorth, would that work for you?”

“That’s fine.” Ning pondered for a moment and nodded. “I’m fine with allowing Daoist Bluestone and the three Hegemons to view it together.” For the sake of reviving Yu Wei, anything would be worth it.

“I can probably provide thirty to forty percent of the value needed to ask an Autarch to intervene.” Daoist Bluestone looked towards the other three Hegemons. “Can you three jointly come up with the sixty or so percent needed?”

“That’s too much.” Hegemon Netherlily shook her head.

“That’s a lot to ask. Invite an Autarch to help out? I’ve never even seen an Autarch!” Hegemon Windrain shook his head as well. “The price is too high. I think we’ll pass.”

“Yes, we’ll pass.” Hegemon Brightshore shook his head as well.

Daoist Bluestone was startled for a moment, then nodded his head in understanding. “I’m so embarrassed. I forgot that although this [Omega Sword Dao] is extremely enticing to me, due to my efforts to step into the Hegemon level, it is of much more limited use to the three of you.”

Ning understood what was going on. Daoist Bluestone, Emperor Goldface, Empress Jade Phoenix, Emperor Blackcloud, and Emperor Goldisle all deeply desired to train to the Hegemon level. But the three Hegemons?

Their Daos would need to advance by an absolutely huge amount before they could reach the inconceivably powerful level of Autarchy. This ‘step’ was as vast as the gap between heaven and earth. Although the [Omega Sword Dao] was an extremely profound Dao, Ning had thus far only developed it to the fourth-step Daolord level. A mere Daolord-level [Omega Sword Dao] would be of limited assistance to Hegemons. It was virtually impossible for them to use Ning’s insights to reach Autarchy.

It must be remembered that not even the combined treasures of all three Hegemons would necessarily be enough to invite an Autarch to help out. To have the three of them jointly come up with sixty percent of the necessary funds represented them essentially bankrupting themselves. For them to sacrifice the majority of their treasures simply to view the [Omega Sword Dao]… the three Hegemons weren’t willing to do such a thing.

“How embarrassing.” Daoist Bluestone looked towards Ning. “Fellow Daoist Darknorth, I’ve already offered as much as I can! To ask an Autarch to help out is just far too difficult. Perhaps the only person belonging to the Flamedragon Realmverse qualified to do such a thing is Emperor Waveshift, but he’s always been roaming the outside world. There’s no way to even locate him… and even if you somehow found him, he probably wouldn’t be willing to give you that much treasure. He might be weaker than Hegemons in actual combat, but he has definitely reached the Hegemon level in the Dao of Numerancy. Your [Omega Sword Dao] would be of limited use to him.”

Ning understood. His [Omega Sword Dao] was of limited interest to the Hegemons; it was of far more interest to the Emperors who were trapped at a bottleneck and who sought to break through it to reach Hegemony.