Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

As for now? It would be hard for this Daoguard Tower to slay an Autarch, but it could certainly trap one for an extended period of time. As for killing a Daolord whose lifespan was limited… Bowenya felt certain that it would be quite easy.

“This one here.” Ning broke out of another spacetime continuum, following his premonitions and advancing without hesitation towards a brand-new continuum.

His senses wouldn’t deceive him. This was definitely the path which led him closest to where he needed to go. If he followed this path, he would definitely be able to reach the core of this Daoguard Tower!

“Hahaha! Daolord Darknorth, if my count is correct, you’ve already attacked more than fifty times.” Exalt Bowenya’s voice echoed within this mist-filled continuum. “As expected of the first master of an Eternal Omega Dao in this Chaosverse. You truly are impressive, and your senses truly are sharp! Even in a spacetime maze, you are able to find the best path available.”

Ning completely ignored him, choosing to instead focus on analyzing the new region he was in. He wanted to find the center of this tower, then assault it with all his power. His strikes against it would be far more effective than his strikes anywhere else; two or three strikes would be enough to grant him escape.

“But even if you can find the best path, it’ll be of no use. You’ll die of exhaustion before you ever reach it.” Exalt Bowenya roared with laughter. “Let me tell you a little secret. You are still at the outer edges of the spacetime maze. You aren’t even close to me yet!”





Book 42, Chapter 17 - The Epiphany Within the Spacetime Maze


Ji Ning did in fact feel anxious. He could sense that although he had indeed chosen the quickest path, the journey before him would be a long one and he would need to traverse over a thousand different spacetime continuums.

He had to strike at least four or five times within each spacetime continuum to break free. Some cost him seven or eight strikes! He had only been fighting for a short while but had already struck over fifty times. This was rapidly depleting his lifespan! Although Ning had expected that this would be dangerous, there was nothing he could do upon being trapped within the spacetime maze.

“I didn’t have to use full power on each strike, but I really don’t have many strikes left in me. My truesoul is crumbling faster and faster now. I can’t predict when the final collapse will come.” Ning was worried. More and more cracks had appeared upon his truesoul, hastening the day when it all came crashing down. These cracks were accumulating at an alarming rate!

Ning’s lifespan was rapidly decreasing, but he didn’t slow down in the slightest. He wouldn’t give up until the last moment came.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Ning was within a world of rain. His sword-light cut a hole into the world, allowing him to flee this spacetime continuum.

He had always been charging forwards fearlessly, but suddenly he came to a halt and turned backwards to look into the rain.

For some strange reason… perhaps because he knew he was about to die… when Ning saw the rain, he couldn’t help but think back to his father and mother. His father had personally taught him the [Raindrop Sutra] sword-arts. Later on, Ning had then understood the True Meaning of the Raindrop and embarked upon the path of the Dao…

Whoosh. The giant gaping hole behind him began to rapidly close as spacetime reached out to merge together and seal the breach. The hole began to shrink in size, and he was able to see less and less of the rain behind him.

Suddenly, Ning’s entire body froze. When he saw how spacetime reached out to ‘heal’ that wound, he suddenly had the feeling that spacetime had a type of life and vitality of its own, as though it was a living being that was struggling to grow, develop, and heal.

“Spacetime.” Ning stood there, an epiphany going off in his mind that illuminated his thoughts.

Exalt Bowenya frowned from his position at the very center of the Daoguard Tower as he stared at the small, illusory figure who stood within one of many illusory globes before him. “Why did Daolord Darknorth suddenly come to a halt in the dimensional seams? Hmph. Does he really think he’ll last longer if he doesn’t go into the next spacetime continuum?”

“Fuze, attack Daolord Darknorth,” Exalt Bowenya instructed.

“Understood.” Upon hearing the order, a Sithe Emperor who was lying in wait within the dimensional seams of the spacetime maze immediately prepared to launch an attack with the treasures within the Daoguard tower that had been assigned to him.

……

Ning was in the middle of a prajna-state of epiphany. When you were weak, you might be unable to control yourself upon entering such a state. In fact, you might even forget the entire world around you, including any danger you were in.

Ning, however, had reached an Autarch’s level of insight. Even though he was in a prajna-state, he was able to remain somewhat aware of his surroundings.. He first accelerated time by 100x around him, then carefully continued his meditations.

Not just him; even the black-robed Primaltwin in the outside world had also entered a prajna-state.

Swish! A streak of black wind howled straight towards Ning. The meditating Ning was able to divert a bit of his attention to dealing with it, using the Water Sword Dao to form a curtain of water which protected and surrounded him.

“He’s still not leaving?” Exalt Bowenya was able to watch everything from afar. When he saw that Ning remained within the dimensional seams, he immediately ordered: “Continue. Do not stop! Since he has chosen to remain within the seams, bombard him with attacks until he dies.”

The black wind attacked again and again, but Ning continued to stand there without moving. If he entered a new spacetime continuum, he would have to deal with incessant attacks which would come from every direction. This black wind, however, was only able to attack roughly once every five seconds. Each time Ning used his sword-arts, he would be able to defend for roughly twenty seconds! During this period of time, Ning kept himself at a 100x temporal rate while continuing to maintain his prajna-state.

Time continued to flow on. After Ning executed the eighteenth stance from his sword-arts, his eyes suddenly lit up.

“Spacetime is alive and sentient in its own way. So this is the Spacetime Sword Dao!” Ning’s heart was filled with joy.

If he had been forced to just sit in the outside world and quietly ponder the mysteries of spacetime, it truly would have taken him over ten thousand chaos cycles to understand all of this! But he was in a life-and-death state in a region where spacetime had been manipulated to an unbelievable degree. Thanks to his mastery of the Space Sword Dao and the many insights it had brought, Ning had also come to understand some of the mysteries behind this spacetime maze, which had been developed by the Sithe Lord of Chaos and was incredibly profound and abstruse.

All of this had resulted in Ning entering a prajna-state, and in doing so he had shattered through all the obstacles in his path, allowing him to break through to the next level. Oftentimes, aeons of normal cultivation wouldn’t be as effective as a single moment of epiphany.

It had been a long, long time since Ning had entered a prajna-state. Generally speaking, the higher a level of insight you reached, the harder it would be for you to truly enter such a state. Back when he was young and living in the Three Realms, he had entered this state on multiple occasions. However, ever since he had become the incredible Daolord Darknorth, master of the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, he had never entered this type of state again. Although he gained the occasional insight, those were not true epiphanies.

But this time… Ning had a true epiphany!

“It seems that I, Darknorth, am not destined to die in this place. Nor are Mistress and the others.” Ning revealed a smile, unable to disguise his excitement. If the Paragon of Pills had truly died here, he would forever feel ashamed of himself.

……