Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

The perfect Nine Chaos Seals could be trained in by World-level cultivators, Daolords, and even Emperors. After doing so, it could be used like ‘divine power’ inside the body and ‘Immortal energy’ outside the body. This was a truly flawless type of energy… but it was limited to the first nine stages.

“Perfecting it was simple.” Ning was at such a high level of enlightenment that he immediately grasped the principles behind it. Given enough time, he too would be able to duplicate the work which Awakener had done.

“So Autarch Awakener actually had two different lines of theory, both of which he thought could be successful in creating the Tenth Chaos Seal?” Ning nodded slowly. He had the assistance of the [Deathless Chapter], and he was using it and his own insights to pursue multiple avenues of research as well. Two of them were the ones which Autarch Awakener believed to be workable. The first was the path of the ‘Infinity Everlasting’, while the second was the path of the ‘Void Everlasting’.

Ning began to greedily read through Autarch Awakener’s notes. Over the course of aeons of research, Autarch Awakener had clearly gained many more insights than Ning with regards to these two paths. He also had many different ideas of his own, which quickly gave Ning new insights and ideas.

Ning became completely focused on reviewing Autarch Awakener’s work and adding it to his own. A thousand chaos cycles… two thousand chaos cycles… five thousand chaos cycles… ten thousand chaos cycles…

Time continued to flow onwards, as cold and uncaring as ever.





Book 43, Chapter 5 - Out of Seclusion


The white-robed Ji Ning was as still as a statue, his eyes closed. He had been seated there for countless years now.

Finally, Ning opened his eyes. His gaze was filled with the boundless power of space and time, containing all the cosmos within them.

“Truesoul Everlasting…” Ning murmured softly. He had the insights of Autarch Awakener and the [Deathless Chapter], as well as 15,000 chaos cycles worth of meditation. By now, he had reached a level of understanding with regards to the ‘Truesoul Everlasting’ that vastly surpassed Autarch Awakener’s.

“It has been over 15,000 chaos cycles. I only have 1000 chaos cycles left. Time for me to resolve my various affairs.” Ning rose to his feet.

His original body’s lifespan had been rapidly depleted due to the battles which it had fought, but this body had never fought a single time since failing the Daomerge. The Water Sword Dao, Space Sword Dao, Illusion Sword Dao, and other Daos had all strengthened his truesoul considerably, dramatically slowing down the crumbling rate and extending his lifespan considerably.

However, he had spent over 15,000 chaos cycles in training. He didn’t have much time left, and he had some things he wanted to resolve before he could finally, fully devote himself while holding nothing back at all.

“Daolord Darknorth.” The elderly white-haired estate-spirit immediately came over to him.

“I’m going to make a short trip. The next time I come back, I’ll be entering terminal seclusion.”

“Terminal seclusion?” The white-haired elder was shocked. He could sense the firm resolve within Ning’s words.

Terminal seclusion… it represented abandoning everything else and entering seclusion for the final time. Either one would succeed in one’s goal, or one would die in seclusion, never to return!

Ning departed from the Azureflower Estate and made his way over to the Three Realms.

……

Ning arrived at Brightheart Island in Serpentwing Lake. This was where Ning’s family resided, and Ning’s three major retainers Azurefiend, Su Youji, and Pillsaint lived here as well, as did Ning’s eighth disciple ‘Stonepool’.

Everyone was seated, happily enjoying a meal together.

“Ji Ning, each time you go into seclusion you disappear for a few thousand chaos cycles. We hardly see you these days,” Ji Yichuan said with a smile. He was in a wonderful mood today. Whenever Ning reached a bottleneck, he would leave seclusion and spend some time with his family. During the past 15,000 chaos cycles, he had exited seclusion a total of six times.

“Our son is busy with something that’s very important to him. He needs to stay in seclusion to do his best, rather than stay with us and let you bother him all the time.” Yuchi Snow immediately leapt to Ning’s defense, then turned and smiled at him: “Ning, son… let me make the introductions. Dawnjade, come over here.”

The adorable child who had been waiting nearby for quite some time immediately ran over. Yuchi Snow happily took the child’s hand, then said towards Ning, “Dawnjade is the most intelligent child our Ji clan has produced in aeons. He’s an absolutely unparalleled genius who has embarked upon the path of the Omega Dao. He is currently a Daolord of the Second Step.”

“Oh?” Ning glanced at the ‘child’ in astonishment.

“Greetings, Patriarch Darknorth,” Ji Dawnjade said respectfully.

“Father, I have to admit that Dawnjade is very talented. He’s much more talented than me,” the nearby Brightmoon said happily. “He’s only been cultivating for a very brief amount of time, and we didn’t dare to disturb you when you were in seclusion. That’s why we didn’t inform you when he became a Daolord.”

Ning had long ago instructed that he was only to be disturbed if someone was in mortal danger. Otherwise, his seclusion was not to be interrupted.

Ning looked the child over, his eyes lighting up.

He had long ago instructed his daughter, Brightmoon, to take his place in teaching his eighth disciple, ‘Stonepool’. After spending many years training together, the two of them had actually ended up becoming Dao-companions! Both of them had actually been emotionally hurt when they were young. Brightmoon had been single her entire life, while Stonepool had poured all of his efforts on cultivation. Still… after spending many years together, they began to grow extremely fond of each other.

The two had ended up having a child… and Stonepool had voluntarily suggested that the child have the surname ‘Ji’ in order to show respect to his master and father-in-law, Ji Ning! If they had a second child, that child would take his family name. And so, Ning’s lineage began to grow.

Time had passed on, and Ji Ning’s line had flourished. All of them were born with tremendous blessings of karmic luck, but none of them were comparable to the most impressive geniuses of this realmverse… until, that is, Dawnjade was born. He was incredibly intelligent and sailed through his path of cultivation, rapidly advancing to the World level with her clan’s aid. He had then gone out adventuring… and the end result was that he had also embarked upon the path of the Omega Sword Dao!

In truth, the Autarchs had already begun to ensure that quite a number of geniuses scattered throughout the vast Chaosverse had begun to train in the path of the Omega Dao. There was now one or two in virtually every single realmverse who trained in an Omega Dao… and after over ten thousand chaos cycles, the Ji clan had finally given birth to a second such genius. Yichuan and Snow naturally doted on him heavily.

“Mm.” Ning stared at Dawnjade, scanning his past as he did so. Ning could even get a vague sense of what the future held in store for the child, and what he saw was a truly extraordinary destiny. The boy would probably surpass even Ning’s eight disciples… but in the end, the Daomerge would remain a huge obstacle.

“Good. Good!” Ning actually praised the boy twice. “Dawnjade, from this day forth, you shall stay by my side. If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask me.”