Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

“Haha. You get to be the last one by my side as I enter terminal seclusion,” Ning teased.

“To accompany you in this is my honor,” the white-haired elder chuckled.

Ning turned to glance at the world behind him. He felt as though he could see the images of those who he cared about appearing outside.

“Close the gates,” Ning instructed.

With a rumble, the towering gates to the Azureflower Estate swung shut.





Book 43, Chapter 9 - The Only Path: Void Everlasting


Far, far away, in the outer perimeter of the Sithelands. There was a floating island here which had an ancient temple on it. Inside were Autarch Mogg and the avatars of the other Autarchs.

“Autarchs, I wanted to let you know that I, Darknorth, am preparing to enter terminal seclusion. Let our various conversations and sharing of insights be paused for now! But of course, if you gain any extremely important insights, you can still go ahead and share them with me,” Ji Ning sent via the Autarch talisman to the other six Autarchs.

“Terminal seclusion?” Titanos, Ekong, Bolin, Skyfeeder, Stonerule, and Mogg all stiffened. They all felt a mixture of complex emotions in their heart, as well as a sense of sorrow. They knew just how difficult creating a ‘Truesoul Everlasting’ technique would be. The six of them had spent a great deal of time in recent years on this technique, but they actually made much less progress than Ning. There were no important insights they could share with him.

“If we have any important insights, we’ll definitely notify you.” Autarch Bolin was the first to reply.

“Darknorth, you are the first and only master of an Eternal Omega Dao our Chaosverse has produced. I know you can succeed, no matter how hard the task,” Autarch Titanos said.

“There’s always a chance, no matter how slim. I know that you will seize it,” Autarch Skyfeeder said.

They all replied supportively, but although their words were filled with encouragement and they spoke of their faith in Ning, deep in their hearts they knew how slim Ning’s chances were. That was why they had to speak so supportively! Over the course of the past 15,000 chaos cycles, they had often exchanged insights with Ning regarding the [Deathless Chapter]. At first, they had been able to provide Ning with some new ideas, but later on their rate of advancement became far slower than Ning’s.

“Yes. I’ll definitely find and seize that chance. I’m going into seclusion now.” Ning sent one final reply, then fell silent.

The six Autarchs exchanged glances, then sighed.

“Ugh.”

“Just like that, one of our good friends has…”

“Perhaps a miracle will happen.” All of them felt saddened, and the atmosphere quickly turned heavy. Darknorth had been a dazzling figure, the first master of an Eternal Omega Dao their Chaosverse had produced. He had established a new path for future generations to follow, and now… all by himself… he was preparing to go out in a blaze of glory, fighting a battle which no one had ever won in a bid for survival. He had so many unfinished hopes and dreams… but alas, nothing in life would ever be exactly as one wished it to be.

The six Autarchs could do nothing but wait silently.

……

Within a silent hallway. The white-robed Ning first drew all six of his Northbow swords from their sheaths, then placed them atop a nearby table. The elderly white-haired spirit of the estate watched silently from one side.

Ning then walked to the Autarch’s stone dais, sat down in the lotus position, then slowly closed his eyes.

He had already settled as many affairs as he could. There was no point in worrying about the rest. He was now able to truly empty his mind of all extraneous thoughts and focus everything on creating the complete [Truesoul Everlasting] technique!

Creation of this technique was his one and only chance to survive. Of course, successfully becoming an Autarch via the Omega Dao was also possible, but by all rights that would require an enormous amount of work and time. He simply didn’t have that much time left to him!

Rely on an epiphany? Epiphanies could only be hoped for, not counted on. Hoping for an epiphany that would propel him into Omega Autarchy was nothing more than a foolish pipe dream. He at least had a slim chance at surviving with a ‘Truesoul Everlasting’ technique, but his chances of surviving due to becoming an Omega Autarch were next to nil. If he had a million chaos cycles or more, he might be able to accomplish it with some luck and an epiphany, but as of right now? Forget it!

Besides… when entering terminal seclusion, one had to put everything at stake. The worst thing he could do was to allow himself to be distracted by other possibilities!

Ning knew that becoming an Omega Autarch in such a short period of time was far less likely than successfully developing the ‘Truesoul Everlasting’ technique. Thus, he didn’t hesitate at all in choosing the latter option! He had made this choice 15,000 chaos cycles ago, and he didn’t hesitate at all as he entered terminal seclusion.

This path was illuminated by the [Deathless Chapter] of the [Five Truncheon Chapters], which in turn represented Hawkfang’s distillation of the Sithe Chaoslord’s insights as represented by the nine techniques he had created. Ning had joined them together with all of the insights pertaining to this Chaosverse which he had gained over countless years, as well as the insights of Autarch Awakener. Without question, it was the path most likely to succeed!

“A ‘Truesoul Everlasting’… there are two paths to success which I can take. The first is that of the ‘Void Everlasting’, while the second is that of the ‘Chaos Everlasting’.”

Ning began to ponder this most important of questions. “What should I choose? Once I make the decision, I’ll have to follow it to the bitter end.”

During previous aeons, he had pursued multiple paths at the same time. Autarch Awakener had believed that the two most likely paths were those of ‘Void Everlasting’ and ‘Infinity Everlasting’. The latter followed the most fundamental principles of Daoist cultivation, and was based on the principle of how ‘one begat two, two begat three, and three begat all things.’ The principle was basic, but actualizing it was difficult. Ning had finally abandoned this approach by chaos cycle 12,000. As for the other paths, he had abandoned them at other intervals as well.

Now, only two paths remained which Ning felt would have the highest chances of success.

“The Void Everlasting… it involves using my will as the core. I would need to be able to maintain my will and consciousness in the emptiness of space itself. Even after my truesoul shatters apart, I would still be able to remain conscious and could then use the empty void of space itself to serve as the medium for remaking my truesoul anew.”

“The Chaos Everlasting… it involves trusting my will to the prime essences of the Chaosverse themselves. I would borrow from the power of the Quintessence, asking it to halt its instinctual desire to swallow my truesoul. If I can do that, my truesoul will naturally stop crumbling.”

Ning continued to ponder this decision. The ‘Void Everlasting’ required him to rely on himself, while the ‘Chaos Everlasting’ involved him swaying the prime essences and convincing them to ease drawing upon his truesoul.

Why did the truesoul continuously shatter and break apart? Because the prime essences would begin pulling at it after the first cracks appeared during the Daomerge.

“The Void Everlasting technique works in theory, but I haven’t sensed it actually function in practice,” Ning mused. “As for Chaos Everlasting, I can sense its effects. I’ve tried numerous times to link my will to the prime essences and have been able to use this technique to slow down the rate at which it absorbs my truesoul… but as soon as I halt the technique, the prime essences will continue to swallow my truesoul at the normal rate once more.”