Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

Ning said, “You know quite a lot.”


“Haha, I’ve inverted time to watch the history of this era before us on many an occasion. I’ve even learned their language,” the horned man chuckled. “By now, I’m familiar with all of these Omega Autarchs and their backgrounds. I even know how they each rose to power and what they experienced. I can’t help but sigh. The end result of that battle was the maddened emperor destroying the entire landmass and causing all of the Omega Autarchs to die with him.”

Ning saw it as well. That final, great explosion… it had claimed the lives of that terrifying psychic being and all 129 Omega Autarchs. In fact, all the living beings on that landmass had died, while the thirty-two universes orbiting it had been annihilated as well. It had been an absolutely enormous explosion! The entire Infinite Void had been wiped clean of all life thanks to that explosion.

As Ning listened to the horned man speak, he continued to watch the temporal inversion and see the history of this land. The great landmass had been around for far too long. As Ning continued to watch backwards he gradually began to learn and understand its language, and he also began to grow familiar with the deceased Omega Autarchs.

For example, the black-robed emperor’s Sentinel for the nineteenth universe had been named Autarch Cloudsoar. He had also been an Autarch of the Omega Sword Dao.

The black-robed emperor’s Sentinel for the third universe, ‘Autarch Yin-Yang’, had been an incomparably muscular old bull whose body was completely black.

The various experts all had their own areas of expertise.

“Thankfully, in my homeland the ‘will’ of the Quintessence simply acts on instinct, rather than gaining a sense of self and thus becoming a true living being.” The more Ning saw, the more frightened he became. All living beings on that continent had been slaves to the black-robed emperor, unable to extricate themselves until the day of the final battle.

Time continued to flow backwards to the earliest days before life had even arisen. There, the temporal inversion came to a halt. It was impossible to go backwards any farther.

“You’ve reached the end. Time can no longer move backwards,” the horned man said.

Ning nodded. All the images before him vanished, and the space in front of him went back to normal.

“Eh?” Ning stared in front of him, only to see that a universe had appeared in the location where that vast landmass had been. The universe was slowly draining energy and matter from the surrounding area. Clearly, it was still in the growing phase and had yet to truly form.

Swish! The golden-robed Ning took a step forwards, appearing before that universe.

“Ji Ning.” The horned man’s heart clenched as he immediately followed from behind.

Ning’s godsense instantly swept out to enter the slowly-forming universe. Inside, he saw nothing but raw chaos. There was no life within it at all. “How odd. The old era ended long ago, while the other Chaosverses have all been formed. This one, however, has not.”

“Everything is possible within the Infinite Void,” the horned man said.

“It is developing quite slowly,” Ning said with a smile. “Judging from what I saw when I inverted time, this place must have begun to accumulate matter ever since that great explosion had occurred. However… despite all that time having passed, it still can’t even come close to comparing to our Chaosverses. In my homeland, generally speaking the slower something grows, the more terrifying it will become when it finally matures.”

The horned man’s heart trembled, but his face remained calm. “Oh?”

“I’m not lying to you,” Ning smiled. Indeed. The legends of ‘Nezha’ had him in his mother’s womb for three years and six months before being born. Ning’s own daughter, Brightmoon, had been in the womb for five years and two months before emerging.

“I have the feeling that this universe is taking shape far too slowly… and it is located exactly where the original landmass was.” Ning chuckled. “It might grow to become even more powerful than our Chaosverses.” Ning was connecting all the dots together.

“Impossible. That landmass completely blew apart. Most of its matter came to form our nine Chaosverses. The remaining amount of matter couldn’t possibly form a stronger universe,” the horned man said confidently.

“Makes sense.” Ning glanced at the horned man, then drew a Northmoon sword from his back.

Clink! The sword sliced through the Infinite Void, radiating a sharp light as it chopped down at the slowly-growing universe.

“Stop that!” The horned man immediately reached out, his arm expanding tremendously as he blocked Ning’s sword-light.

The two attacks collided. The horned man’s robes tore apart, revealing a skinny but incomparably tough right arm which was completely undamaged.

“What are you doing, Ji Ning?” the horned man asked angrily.

“Destroying it, of course,” Ning said.

“It is a perfectly fine universe which poses no threat to us at all. Why are you going to destroy it?” the horned man asked.

“At first, I was just curious about it, since it was located where the original landmass was and grew very slowly. As I said, in own homeland, the slower something develops the more powerful it becomes… but when you kept on rebutting what I said, I had the feeling that something was wrong. I thought I’d give it a try, and as I thought, you moved to block me.” Ning chuckled.

The horned man instantly felt regret upon hearing this. He wanted Ning to feel that this was nothing more than an ordinary universe, but instead he had put Ning on his guard. It must be remembered that Ning’s avatar had exited his Chaosverse filled with suspicion towards anything and everything which could be a threat to it. He had the feeling that this small universe was rather unusual; testing it out was a very normal reaction. For the horned man to stop him meant that something was afoot. If the horned man didn’t stop him? Well, destroying a celestial object which held no life didn’t really matter.

Whoosh! The golden-robed Ning once more charged towards that Chaosverse, chopping out with his divine sword.

“Don’t! I’ll tell you the secret!” the horned man called out hurriedly while blocking. “I discovered this by accident over many years of observation. If any other Chaoslords arise in the future, don’t tell them this secret! This universe is very unique in many ways. Although it isn’t that large, it is quite marvelous. Let me explain!”

No amount of honeyed words could dissuade Ning!

“BREAK!” Ning’s eyes flickered with destructive light. He manifested three heads and six arms, each of his hands holding onto a Northmoon sword. Sword-light flashed in an utterly indomitable matter as he summoned the vast power of his entire Chaosverse. The horned man grew quite desperate. Darknorth was an Omega Autarch of the Sword, the most offensive type of Omega Autarch. Alphan would be able to withstand Ning’s attack, but there was no way he could completely negate it and prevent any of it from harming the small universe.

“Gwaaaar!” The horned man suddenly changed form, becoming an incomparably vast and muscular black bull. Beneath the bull’s hooves appeared the enormous diagram of a Yin-Yang.

“It is you? The Sentinel for the third universe, ‘Autarch Yin-Yang’?” Ning recognized this form. So the horned man was actually one of the 129 Omega Autarchs who had surrounded and assaulted the black-robed emperor! “You didn’t die?”

The bull had clearly died in the images Ning had seen during the temporal inversion. Ning instantly realized that a grand secret had to be connected to this.