Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

“For all intents and purposes, they died long ago.” Ning looked at the five powerful cultivators, sighing at the savage, murderous look on their faces. “Let us grant them rest at long last.”


Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash.

All five were ground to dust by Ning’s sword-light. Even Lord Starbearer was slain, due to the black chains suppressing his power and preventing him from fighting back.

A look of heart-ache and grief was on Azurefiend’s old face.

“Hegemons and Otherverse Lords can be transformed into golems?” The Paragon of Pills shook her head.

“It is extremely difficult to convert powerful creatures into golems, and the stronger their Dao-heart is the better. For these five to have been converted is a sign that their Dao-hearts simply weren’t strong enough. In addition, the conversion process requires an extremely long period of time. The process has to be slow and gradual, without the cultivators even noticing anything. If the cultivators knew that their terrifying fate was to be transformed into golems, they would probably commit suicide instead. That’s why the process has to be gradual; not the slightest bit of haste is acceptable! By the time the cultivator realizes what has happened, it is already too late,” Ning said. This was part of the information which the Autarchs had provided to him.

Lord Annihilation was greatly shocked by this. “Then when I was being repeatedly assaulted by those illusions… was that part of the taming and transforming process?”

“Most likely, yes.” Ning nodded.

“I could sense some charming spells aimed at me in my pocket dimension as well,” the Paragon of Pills said. “But I just stayed there without daring to move anywhere. It didn’t seem to affect me much.”

“Given how strong your Dao-heart is, Mistress, there is no way the Sithe would’ve been able to convert you.” Ning glanced at the palace. “I can sense that this palace holds quite a few prisoners inside. Almost all of them are Daolords who refused to obey orders, which is why they were imprisoned and tortured by that short Sithe. I can also sense that a Hegemon has been imprisoned there as well. Most likely, the taming process failed with him.”





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Book 41, Chapter 12 - Grand Dimensional Formation


Ji Ning waved a finger from afar. Rumble… Ning’s Sword Dao Domain actually forcibly excavated the entire prison beneath the palace, causing it fly outwards before settling upon the ground with a boom. The prison cages all shattered apart, revealing the imprisoned Daolords who were inside, all of whom looked to be in terrible shape.

The largest cell had been used to imprison a black-haired man who had a single horn on his head. His hair was tousled, and his entire body was covered with a spiderweb of countless scars.

The black-haired man raised his head and stared towards Ning. His gaze was cold and resolute, as though nothing could shake his will at all.

“Eh?” A puzzled look appeared in his eyes. “The Paragon of Pills? Hegemon Tia?” the black-haired man said in a low, hoarse voice. He recognized these two ‘madwomen’ who often visited the Sithelands.

“Brother Flameleft?” Hegemon Tia was startled.

“Flameleft, you are still alive?!” The Paragon of Pills was shocked as well.

Ning glanced at the mechanisms and barriers used to chain the black-haired man. He immediately sent out streaks of sword-light that quickly shattered them to bits. With those barriers gone, Hegemon Flameleft regained his power and the wounds on his body quickly vanished. Black robes appeared over his body, and he turned to stare at Ning in a rather puzzled manner.

He could sense that this white-robed Daolord in front of him was incredibly terrifying; the sword-light the Daolord had created was capable of slaying him with ease. And yet, the man was clearly just a Daolord who had failed the Daomerge!

“Hegemon Flameleft, this is Daolord Darknorth,” Lord Annihilation said hurriedly. “We all owe our very lives to Daolord Darknorth. He is so strong that he treats with Autarchs as equals; not even the Sithe Exalts can compare to him in power.”

Hegemon Flameleft instantly realized just how incredibly powerful Daolord Darknorth was.

“Flameleft thanks you, Daolord, for saving my life.” Hegemon Flameleft hurriedly bowed respectfully, a grateful look in his eyes. “Flameleft shall never forget the grace you have shown me today.”

No one would ever know how much torment and misery he had suffered. On multiple occasions, he had very nearly broken down. All the others who had been captured had committed suicide early on. Those who didn’t commit suicide in time would see their divine power and Immortal energy sealed away, making future suicide impossible! They were imprisoned and suffered countless torments that were truly indescribable.

Suicide was no longer an option, and they had only two options before them. The first was to submit and become a puppet. The second was to continue resisting. In the end, the only one who managed to continue resisting was Flameleft.

The Autarchs who had seen this in the past actually drew from it, using it as an inspiration for their idea of torturing Sithe Exalts in the hopes that they would finally give up and allow their truesouls and souls to be infiltrated. That way, once the Sithe Exalts died, their truesoul fragments would be absorbed and swallowed by Ning’s Chaosverse.

The Sithe Exalts had nearly been driven mad from the torture, but they clearly were still capable of enduring it.

……

“Flameleft, were any of your weapons stolen by the Sithe? I already killed the Sithe who ran this place and have all of his treasures,” Ning said. He felt a great deal of admiration for Hegemon Flameleft; the man had been able to endure for so very long, even though there was no visible hope whatsoever! This was no easy feat.

“I didn’t have many powerful weapons,” Hegemon Flameleft said. “The only good weapon I had was that axe I always used.”

Ning immediately waved his hand, causing a series of axes to appear before him. There were six in total, and one of them voluntarily flew over to Hegemon Flameleft. Hegemon Flameleft excitedly grasped the axe. The axe itself was shivering!

“It wasn’t easy for you to stay alive,” Ning said with a laugh. “Stay safe and avoid the Sithelands unless you have a compelling reason to be here.”

“Understood.” Hegemon Flameleft was the type of person who always repaid his debts to others. Ning had saved his life, and so he privately swore that he would definitely do everything he could to repay Ning.

“This bracelet is an interesting Sithe trinket. It won’t make you much stronger, but it’ll be useful to you whenever you need to flee.” Ning waved his hand, tossing out a Sithe bracelet. “Don’t be shy and just take it. I feel quite a bit of admiration for you, to tell you the truth.”

Hegemon Flameleft hesitated slightly.

“Brother Flameleft, just accept it,” Hegemon Tia said, as did the Paragon of Pills. Both of them knew that Daolord Darknorth had completely surpassed all other cultivators and was virtually a peer of the Autarchs. Most Sithe artifacts were truly useless to him, while the Three Realms only needed some of the more important ones.

Besides… if Ning really did need Sithe weapons, he could go to any of the ruins and acquire a mountain of them.

“Thank you, Daolord.” Flameleft wasn’t the wishy-washy type, and so he offered a simple thanks while firmly engraving Ning’s kindness into his heart.

“It’s time for us to leave.” Ning glanced at the surrounding area. Daoguard Towers were absolute nightmares for other cultivators, but they wouldn’t be that bad for him if it wasn’t for the fact that his truesoul was constantly crumbling. He had been forced to attack several times here, resulting in his lifespan lessening by quite a bit.

Whoosh. Ning and the others immediately soared into the skies, flying into the endless black mist outside the lonely dimensional islands. After flying for a short period of time, they flew out of it and reached the empty void outside of it.