Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

However… from another perspective, it could be said that training in multiple Daos had its own benefits as well. The differences between the Daos could bring inspiration, as all Daos were linked together!

“With the stone dais helping you, you should be able to do it.” The white-haired elder looked at Ning. “Creating these ten techniques will be of help to you as well. The Daomerge for the Omega Daos is simply too difficult… creating multiple Archon-level techniques will only benefit you, not harm you.”

“Understood.” Ning nodded. He had to admit this was true.

……

And so, Ning began to focus on analyzing the Dao of Water.

The Dao of Water was a vast Dao which many, many people trained in. Ning began to analyze one technique after another. There were many major powers who had become supreme Daolords thanks to the Dao of Water. Some had become Archons, while a few had become Hegemons! However, everyone had a different interpretation of the Dao of Water, even though the Dao itself was the same.

Alas, Ning felt tremendous regret that despite there being countless techniques pertaining to the Dao of Water, there was no ‘Omega Water Dao’.

Obviously, Ning would need to spend much more time on the Dao of Water than he had on illusions. And so, time slowly flowed on.

In the blink of an eye, Ning had spent over an entire chaos cycle of ‘actual time’ training within the Azureflower Estate… and he was still absorbed in his studies.

……

Everything was so peaceful and calm. No one in the Flamedragon Realmverse knew that during the past chaos cycle, an utterly terrifying Heartforce Cultivator had arisen.

Ever since the Flamedragon Realmverse had lost its Heartforce Hegemon, it had never given birth to another Eternal Emperor who was also a Heartforce Cultivator. And indeed, it was extremely rare for Eternal Emperors to be Heartforce Cultivators.

Although Ning’s heartforce was quite strong upon him becoming a Daolord of the Fourth Step, allowing him to easily trap a large number of Emperors with illusions during the battle for Silksnow City, his actual skill in illusions was rather low. He had completely relied on his powerful heartforce to gain victory. Ning’s illusions had been completely ineffective against Archon-level opponents.

Now, however… Ning’s weakness in illusions had been addressed. He had truly skyrocketed to a brand new level, the Archon level.

The stability of the Omega Sword Dao ensured that Ning’s heartworld was probably second only to that of a Heartforce Hegemon’s! This made his heartforce indescribably powerful. Now that both his heartforce and his illusory arts had reached incredibly high levels, even a number of the Archons of the Sacred Cities would fall to his illusions. In a life-and-death battle, being trapped in an illusion for even a brief instant would make it so that you lost control over your invulnerable form… and Ning would take advantage of that moment to slay his foe with ease.





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Book 36, Chapter 30 - Heading Off


It was difficult for the three mighty Hegemons to slay Archon-rank Emperors, precisely because the Emperors could use their invulnerable forms to flee. However… if they were trapped in illusions, they would be unable to escape or to maintain their invulnerable forms. Their minds would’ve been drawn into the illusions, allowing them to be killed.

Heartforce Emperors were the terrifying stuff of legends. The entire Flamedragon Realmverse didn’t have a single Heartforce Emperor in it at present. For Heartforce Cultivators to succeed in the Daomerge was far more difficult than for those who trained in any other Dao; most likely, it was second only to those who walked the path of the Omega Dao. Heartforce Cultivators had to have extremely large and stable heartworlds if they wished to have a chance at the Daomerge.

Thus, Heartforce Cultivators would generally improve themselves to at least the supreme Daolord level. Only then would they have sufficiently large and stable heartworlds for them to even consider the Daomerge.

When Ning had visited the alternate universe, he had seen the corpse of a Heartforce Hegemon. He had also seen the Heartforce Hegemon who had died in combat against the Sithe. Both of those were Emperors!

It was virtually guaranteed that a Heartforce Cultivator who succeeded in the Daomerge would become a Hegemon-rank Emperor! Only a tiny, tiny fraction of them would end up as Archon-rank Emperors.

Ning, however, was already comparable to Archon-rank Heartforce Emperors in power! Although he wasn’t able to threaten Hegemons, he was more than capable of threatening the other Archons.

……

While Ning was training, other things were happening within the distant Terror Starsea.

Rumble… countless streams of fire formed a giant whirlpool that surrounded and filled this vast territory. The flames were incomparably beautiful, and they actually converged to form flowers.

A skinny white-haired, white-browed man simply stood there at the edge of the beautiful vortex of flames, staring into it. His white brows fluttered as his oily green eyes stared intently into the very center of the vortex.

“Hmph. Ninedust… no matter how crafty you are and how much you struggle, you’ve still fallen into my trap.” Archon Silksnow smiled coldly. “It took me a hundred million years, but I’ve finally found you. Did you think I really want you dead? No… killing you is just a perk. The person I really want to kill is Daolord Darknorth?”

A frenzied, murderous look was in Archon Silksnow’s oily green eyes. “You have chosen a path of death. You are actually helping me out tremendously by charging into the ‘Jadefire Realm’! Haha… all I need to do is send word of your predicament, and I trust your dear friend Daolord Darknorth will come here to rescue you. I’m not able to kill him… but the Jadefire Realm is!”

“The two of you will both die here.” Archon Silksnow’s eyes burned with savage hate. In truth, when he had first entered the Terror Starsea, his plan had been to kill Ninedust and steal his treasures. He had carefully searched through many places within the Terror Starsea. He was much more powerful than Ninedust and had the assistance of his realmship, which meant that he was able to escape from some of the more dangerous places thanks to its help. Even though the Terror Starsea was a vast place, he was still able to find the Ninedust Sectlord.

Ninedust had felt that he was already quite deep within the vast Terror Starsea. Logically speaking, it wasn’t very likely for Archon Silksnow to be able to locate him. This was why he had chosen to carry the realmship part alongside him in a rather casual manner… but who would’ve thought that thanks to luck and the realmship resonance, Archon Silksnow had really ended up finding him?

Ninedust had immediately fled in terror. He moved fairly slowly, and so he immediately used his escape-type treasures to flee! Archon Silksnow was forced to pursue him, and this pursuit lasted for quite some time.

No matter how he tried, Ninedust was unable to shake his pursuer. In the end, he had gritted his teeth and charged straight into the legendarily lethal ‘Jadefire Realm’. “Hmph, I want to see if Archon Silksnow would dare to come in as well.” All Daolords were possessed of a certain defiant and fearless madness.

“He thought I wouldn’t dare to go in? Of course I would. I’d rather die than live such a miserable life… but it won’t be me who dies. Not only will you die, Daolord Darknorth will die as well.” Archon Silksnow was legendary for his savagery, even amongst Emperors. He was savage to others but even more savage to himself. He immediately road his realmship straight into the vast flaming vortex.

……

Nightfall. Vastheaven Palace.