Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

Ekong’s escape was something for the cultivators to celebrate. Of course, Titanos had to recreate an avatar, which would start off at 50% of his power at most. This avatar would now be the weakest of their Autarch-class combatants, which would have a negative impact on their total combat prowess, but it was still a much, much better outcome than Autarch Ekong dying.

Now, the only one trapped was Ning himself. Titanos, Skyfeeder, Mogg, and Bolin all offered advice and strategies based on what Ning had told them, and they also tried to help come up with ideas for solving the formation. Alas, they weren’t able to see the formation in person and so they could do nothing more than give general advice.

……

On the nineteenth day of Ning’s imprisonment. Ning was still unable to escape, but something else happened. Autarch Bolin’s avatar was also assaulted by a squad of Sithe Exalts. He had been very cautious, but he still ended up trapped within an evil black temple.

“The Sithe really do have more squads of Exalts roving around. Damn.” Autarch Ekong was furious.

“Thankfully, only his avatar has been trapped there. If Bolin’s real body was trapped, we’d be in much more trouble,” Titanos said. “Bolin, hurry up and try to solve the formation and escape as soon as possible. Even if you can’t escape, the sooner your avatar dies the sooner you can start working on a new one and making it stronger. Every extra day counts. Of course, I hope you can escape intact. That avatar is an Autarch-class combatant, after all.”

If they were continuously weakened like this, they might end up being defeated in the final battle. Small losses of strength could have a major impact on the outcome of the war.

“Darknorth, you be careful as well. Staying alive matters more than anything else,” Titanos said.

“Darknorth, my avatar’s remained fairly close to you this entire time. It can probably reach you in around ten days or so. If you ever need my help, just let me know,” Autarch Mogg sent. “Your life is extremely important to us. If I can sacrifice an avatar to keep you alive, that’s a worthwhile trade.”

“No need. I’m still analyzing the formation trapping me. You coming in wouldn’t really help me much. If I ever do need you, I’ll let you know.” Ning felt quite grateful for the offer, but he knew that Autarch Mogg coming wouldn’t make any difference.





Book 44, Chapter 11 - Breaching Spacetime, Succumbing to Eight Revolutions


Within the Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple.

The Sithe Exalts remained seated on the eight stone pillars ringing the outer perimeter of the temple. They were closely watching all of Ji Ning’s actions within the formation, not daring to be the slightest bit negligent. Thanks to their control over the formation they were able to scry and see Ning’s white-robed figured seated in the lotus position, surrounded by countless divine runes of incomparable complexity.

“He’s skilled in formations, illusions, spacetime…” A Sithe Exalt sighed in amazement. “Only an Omega Emperor could be skilled in so many aspects!”

As Sithe Exalts, they had the same level of insight as the native Autarchs of this Chaosverse. Thus, they were able to tell from the runes surrounding Ning that the man had reached incredible heights in both formations and spacetime.

“Emperor Darknorth lives up to his reputation. Still… it isn’t likely that he’ll be able to solve this formation in just eighty-two short days. Twenty days have already gone past.”

“Perhaps the spacetime formation alone will be enough to trap him.”

The Sithe Exalts were conversing mentally with each other. They knew just how important Emperor Darknorth was to the war. He was most likely the greatest obstacle to almighty Iyerre taking control over this Chaosverse! This was why Iyerre was hastening towards them at top speed. If they managed to successfully keep Emperor Darknorth trapped for eighty-two days, they would have carried out their primary mission. Once Iyerre became the Lord of Chaos for this Chaosverse, he would definitely give them great rewards.

Time continued to flow on, one day after another. The spacetime formation was indeed quite complicated, but on the thirtieth day of Ning’s imprisonment, an explosion suddenly erupted forth from within the formation, followed by the faces of the eight Sithe Exalts turning grim.

The white-robed Ning had risen to his feet. He had assumed his three-headed, six-armed form and was using his six Northbow swords to furiously assault the spacetime formation around him.

He seemed to be randomly hacking to the right and to the left, but somehow his ‘random’ hacks managed to disrupt the functioning of the entire formation. He had located and broken through some of the energy nexus points, causing the power of the formation to drop dramatically.

“He’s discovered the secrets behind our spacetime formation. The formation is going to break. It won’t hold much longer!” The eight Sithe Exalts were shocked by Ning’s speed.

Boom! The spacetime formation finally collapsed, followed by those countless miniature spacetime bubbles popping and dissipating.

After thirty full days, he had finally defeated the spacetime formation.

“Incredible. Simply incredible.” A black-haired Sithe Exalt sighed in amazement. “He was able to breach the formation in just thirty days. If I was trapped there, I probably wouldn’t be able to get out even if I spent a hundred chaos cycles trying.”

“You aren’t skilled in formations. You’d stand no chance whatsoever.”

“He really is impressive.”

“Thirty days have gone past. Only fifty-two days are left. The ‘eight revolutions formation’ should be able to trap him for fifty-two days, right?” a Sithe Exalt with golden fur covering his face said.

“The Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple’s strongest trap-type formation is the ‘eight revolutions formation’; the spacetime formation isn’t quite as strong. When I tested the spacetime formation out, I was able to get an overall sense of what I needed to do and could calmly meditate on it, but when I tested out the eight revolutions formation I just felt completely baffled and lost,” a female Sithe Exalt said. “If it took him thirty days for just the spacetime formation, the eight revolutions formation will probably take him over three years.”

“There’s no way he’s getting out of there.”

“Check out that stupid look on his face.”

“Haha, he wants to break through via raw force? What a joke!” The Sithe Exalts all began to laugh when they saw what Ning was doing. They knew just how powerful their ‘eight revolutions formation’ was.

……

Boom! Ning had just broken through the vast spacetime formation. Now, he surveyed his new surroundings with a frown. He was within a sealed dimension of raw fire. The flames filled every inch of this dimension, but they were pushed aside before even getting close to Ning.

“A sealed dimension?” Ning had no idea that he had now entered the most dangerous and most difficult part of the Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple… the eight revolutions formation! This would be his greatest obstacle to escaping the temple. If he managed to break through this, the temple wouldn’t have much else left.

“I should be able to just tear through dimensional membranes via raw force.” Ning didn’t hesitate at all, immediately using the technique which Autarchs favored the most – raw force!

Boom! Ning shot upwards while manifesting three heads and six arms. His six Northbow swords furiously chopped against the dimensional membrane, with each strike empowered by the mysteries of the Space Sword Dao. Ning unleashed several hundred chops just the blink of an eye!

When Ning had been trapped within that ‘hidden’ dimension, Autarch Mogg and Autarch Titanos had used the same principle to break through the dimensional membrane – raw force! This was because, unlike the Sithe, they had nigh-limitless amounts of energy here in their own Chaosverse. There was no worry about running out, whereas the Sithe had to consider how much energy they had available when planning their killer attacks.