Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

Although he was rather unwilling to part with them, he couldn’t just spend all his time and energy maintaining that illusory realm.

“Illusions… reality… I imagine there are many cultivators who would rather live in an illusory realm.” Ning’s Illusion Sword Dao had reached such a level where many cultivators would willingly allow themselves to be captured by it, because it truly did feel extremely real. Only a tiny little bit of difference remained between it and true reality.

Ning’s truesoul was affected by the power of his Illusion Sword Dao as well. Reality and illusion intersected repeatedly, resulting in his truesoul feeling more comfortable than ever before. Even the truesoul’s crumbling speed was somewhat lessened! Ning’s mastery of the Wind Sword Dao and Lightning Sword Dao had been of negligible benefit to his truesoul, but the Illusion Sword Dao was clearly quite helpful.

“For the sake of this Illusion Sword Dao, I spent a total of 185 chaos cycles in training! However, the Illusion Sword Dao has caused my truesoul to slow down its rate of crumbling. As a result, I still have six hundred chaos cycles left.” Ning couldn’t help but let out an involuntary chuckle. “I guess you really do win some and lose some.”

“Now that I have mastered the Illusion Sword Dao, it is time to review the memories of those two Hegemons.” Ning once more summoned the two Hegemons he had captured.

As soon as the two Hegemons looked at Ning, they instantly fell into a dazed stupor. Ning’s mastery of the Illusion Sword Dao meant only Autarch Stonerule, the master of the Illusion Daobirth Essence, was superior to him in the art of illusions… and only somewhat superior at that. The other Autarchs were all slightly inferior to Ning in this regard! And so, Ning was able to review the memories of the various Hegemons with ease.





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Book 42, Chapter 3 - Wandering the Sacred Realm Alone


This was another testament to how formidable the path of the Omega Dao was. Mastering the Eternal Omega Sword Dao put Ji Ning on par with the Autarchs, and as Ning infused more and more Daos into his Sword Dao, he began to improve in many other areas as well. Given enough time, he would undergo a final transformation and reach a higher level, the level which the entire cultivator civilization yearned for!

“A pity. Once again, no luck with those nine techniques.” Ning slowly shook his head. “They are all bound by lifeblood oaths. There’s no way to review those techniques at all. Can it really be possible that every single Hegemon and Emperor was bound by a lifeblood oath? Is there really no way at all?”

“No. The probability may be low, but there always is a chance. Mm. Well. Time to go to the Sacred Realm.” Ning lifted his head to stare at the towering Realmgate. It had been glowing with dazzling light for many years now.

Ning took a single step forwards and moved towards the Realmgate. After stepping inside, he entered yet another tunnel that was formed from many different folds of dimensional space. This was the dimensional passageway which led to the Sacred Realm.

This time, he didn’t suffer any attacks within the dimensional passageway. Sneak attacks had clearly proven to be useless against him, after all, and letting him die alone in exile wasn’t worth it. They had been waiting for him for many years now… waiting for him to come to the Sacred Realm.

“The Sacred Realm.” Ning stood at the exit to the tunnel, staring at the Sacred Realm around him. “Odd. I thought that this place would be quite dangerous, that there would be many different traps and formations awaiting my arrival. Who would’ve thought that there’d be nothing here?” Ning was rather surprised. There was no way any ambush could escape his detection. Ning had been planning to rely on his Storm Sword Dao to flee at high speeds if he discovered any traps, but now it seemed as it was all unnecessary.

Swoosh! Ning flew away from the Realmgate and into the skies. He stared down at the vast world around him, quickly seeing the palaces and estates which were located off in the distance. Clearly, there had once been many people who had lived here. Now, the entire Sacred Realm was deathly silent. All the Daolords had been evacuated, leaving their empty estates behind.

Ning took a deep breath, and as he did so a surge of energy flowed into his body, making him feel quite comfortable. An awesome aura of power pervaded this entire place. The energy here was so dense than an entire army of Hegemons could draw upon it and use it to cultivate.

“What a truly wonderful ‘Sacred Realm’,” Ning said with an approving chuckle.

“Daolord.” An icy void suddenly echoed in the skies above the Sacred Realm.

“Is that the Sithe Exalt?” Ning stood there in midair, a smile on his face. “I thought you’d attack me as soon as I exited the Realmgate. I didn’t expect you to behave so courteously.”

“I, Bowenya, have been waiting for you for many years now, Daolord,” the icy void said.

“I, Darknorth, was teleported into this place by you Sithe. Heh.” Ning chuckled. “Honestly, I would really rather not fight you. If you just let me go, that would be the best outcome for both of us! Otherwise, our only option is to fight each other.”

Many of the Sithe descendants were moved by these words. They knew just how powerful Daolord Darknorth was, and they weren’t willing to fight him. If it truly was possible for them to avoid this battle, how wonderful it would be! However, they all knew that this was a fantasy. No one dared to disobey the orders from the supreme Sithe leader! There was no way out of this deadly battle.

“Daolord Darknorth?” The icy voice spoke out once more: “A fine name. There is no need for us to waste time on words. If you wish to leave this place, you must do so through overpowering us. Given how strong you are, I imagine you can tell where the exit path lies.”

“The exit path should lie within the Daoguard Tower in the very rear, I imagine,” Ning said. Ning was able to sense and scan the entire Sacred Realm through the power of his Wind Sword Dao, and he knew of the presence of those three Daoguard Towers.

All three Daoguard Towers had a total of twelve stories. Based on what Ning knew regarding the Sithe, this meant that these were Daoguard Towers which belonged to Sithe Exalts! There was no way they would be as easy to deal with as the Daoguard Tower he had dealt with some time ago. Ning’s acute attunement to space also allowed him to ascertain and verify that the center of the Sacred Realm, the place where all the dimensional controls were located, was within the Daoguard Tower at the very rear.

What he didn’t know was that during the Dawn War, all three Daoguard Towers shared part of the dimensional controls! After two of the Sithe Exalts died, the Daoguard Towers had been modified so that the only one which could be used to control this hidden dimension was the one which Exalt Bowenya controlled.

“Impressive, Daolord Darknorth.” The icy voice continued, “Then come and fight me, if you dare.”

“Hmph.” Ning let out an amused snort. “Be there shortly. Relax.”

……

Ning began to leisurely fly through the Sacred Realm, blinking through the various regions within it and inspecting it carefully.

“Huh.” Ning stood before a mountain wall which was filled with many carvings as well as some cultivation techniques. “Now that’s interesting.” Ning was like a tourist, wandering through the various parts of the Sacred Realm and visiting many of the sects it held.

The Hegemons and Emperors had been waiting for battle for many years now, and they all felt rather speechless at Ning’s behavior. Still… they had already managed to wait for over a hundred chaos cycles. A bit more time would make no difference at all. They could be patient.