Desolate Era

by RWX

  This city had a famous blacksmith who was very skilled in creating weapons, especially sabers. However, he only smithed when he was in the right mood, and his smithy was only occasionally operational.

  “I’ll give you two golden vastluck coins. Help me forge a suitable saber for me.” A youth and his servants were present, and they spoke and acted in a very arrogant manner.

  “Two golden vastluck coins?” The ordinary-looking blacksmith, dressed in hemp clothes, called out in astonishment, “Each of these are worth as much as ten thousand ordinary gold coins, right?”

  “Precisely,” the youth said proudly.

  “What a fortune! But… haven’t you heard? When I don’t want to work, no one in the world can force me.” The blacksmith snickered, “Run along home, kid.”

  “Two golden vastluck coins aren’t enough? How many do you want?” The youth was anxious now.

  The blacksmith was about to speak when he suddenly paused. “The Hegemon is saying that Voidsea Jadeseals have just appeared? This is probably the best chance that I, Dawnstar, will have to improve my Daomerge odds.” The blacksmith’s eyes became as tranquil as the sea as he glanced at the youth and the others. “Cancel it all.”

  Whoosh. The entire city – in fact, the entire world – all vanished into motes of glittering, astral saber-light. All of the living beings had been nothing more than incarnations created by saber-light, not actual living beings. This was nothing more than a training mechanism he engaged in.

  “Waveshift Realm, eh?” He sheathed his machete into the scabbard on his back. He had a look in his eyes that was calm but which could bring fear to countless cultivators. Moments later, he vanished into thin air after taking a single step.

  ……

  The Dao Alliance, the Aeonians, the Brightshore Kingdom, the Aberrants, the Ancient cultivators… all of them quickly received word. Even the powerful Daolords of the Dark Kingdom were intrigued.

  The Aeonians were on rather bad terms with the Dao Alliance, but for the sake of the Daomerge, King Gorsch and several other Verge-level Daolords decided to brave the risk and give it a shot.

  The same was true for the Dark Kingdom. Verge-level Daolords, for the sake of completing their Daomerge, were absolutely fearless. They began to stealthily move towards the Badlands Territory as well.

  ……

  Even the most powerful of Daolords would feel despair when faced with the Daomerge. When the legendary Voidsea Jadeseals, the most supreme Daomerge treasures, suddenly appeared… countless Daolords were intrigued and agitated. There were many Daolords who were low-key, but that didn’t mean they were weak.

  Emperor Heartsword was a classic example. He was very low-key, and only fought after becoming a Daolord of the Fourth Step due to an irreconcilable grudge. He gained great fame through that battle, and when he succeeded in his Daomerge he became the most dazzling Eternal Emperor in existence. Even now, people whispered stories about him.

  Another example was Daolord Everstarter of the Sword Palace of the Brightshore Kingdom. He had also been a very low-key figure who lived in the Sword Palace and rarely went out adventuring. However, when the Ancient cultivators went too far in their actions and forced his hand, he consecutively slew three of their Verge-level Daolords and then defeated one of their Emperors. He was publicly acclaimed as the most powerful Daolord of the Endless Territories in his time.

  Clearly, the appearance of these seals caused many of the normally low-key but incredibly powerful Daolords to make their appearances.

  None of them would hesitate over something which could increase their chances at completing their Daomerge. Not even death could stop them!

  * * *

  Book 31, Chapter 17 - Trouble For Vastheaven Palace

  The Terror Starsea. The Starflow River. Within Thundersouth Palace.Ji Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord were still training calmly here.

  “Eh?” The Ninedust Sectlord’s face suddenly turned pale. He opened his eyes and called out loudly, “Darknorth. Darknorth!”

  “What is it?” Ning was seated atop a prayer mat and was using the beneficial effects of the Stone Censer of Reunion to train. All five of his Supreme Sword Daos had reached the third stage, but he was stuck at the bottleneck of actually combining them together into the third-stage Omega Sword Dao. Although the stone censer was effective in helping him meditate on the Dao, the toughest bottlenecks would still be quite hard to resolve.

  “Something big just happened.” The Ninedust Sectlord looked rather excited. “Have you heard of the Waveshift Realm in the Badlands Territory of your Dao Alliance?”

  “I have.” Ning was startled. That place was quite close to his own homeland, the Three Realms. His big brother Solesky was in that realm right now. How could he not be familiar with that place?

  “The Voidsea Jadeseals have emerged from the Waveshift Realm.” The Ninedust Sectlord said excitedly, “All six of the major organizations in the Endless Territories already know about this matter. Many Verge-level Daolords have gone crazy. Most who have heard about this have already headed to the Badlands Territory and are going to enter the Waveshift Realm.”

  “Voidsea Jadeseals?” Ning was stunned. That was a supreme Daomerge treasure! Any Verge-level Daolord would go crazy over such an item. The entire reason why so many Verge-level Daolords dared to charge into the Terror Starsea and other terrifyingly dangerous place was because they had long ago stopped worrying about the chances of dying; to them, their only goal was to do their utmost to increase their chances in the Daomerge. When word of the Voidsea Jadeseals’ emergence spread, it only made sense that many Verge-level Daolords would immediately charge into the Waveshift Realm.

  “Big brother Solesky is there.” Ning’s heart clenched. “Not good.” It was already dangerous for Solesky to traverse the Waveshift Realm to begin with. Now that many Verge-level Daolords had also joined the fray… Solesky simply wasn’t that strong, compared to many of those freaks. He would be in even more danger than before.

  “I’m still very, very far away from hitting my lifespan limit. But…” The Ninedust Sectlord’s eyes were glowing with excitement. “Voidsea Jadeseals are legendary, supreme Daomerge treasures! Ever since Emperor Waveshift left, there has been no word of any of these treasures. If we miss this opportunity, we can probably forget about ever having a chance to acquire them. Darknorth, I’ve already decided to go to the Waveshift Realm. How about you? Why don’t we go together? If we join forces, we really would have nothing and no one to fear.”

  Now that he was at the fourth step, Ninedust was on the same level of power as Palace Lord Dawnstar, Daolord Skyaxe, King Gorsch, and similar fighters. However, he wouldn’t dare to claim invincibility. For example, he was vulnerable to dangerous illusions and extremely powerful Heartforce Cultivators. It must be remembered that Ning was merely at the second tier amongst Heartforce Cultivators. If the Ninedust Sectlord had to deal with the likes of the Palace Lord of the Heartforce Palace of the Brightshore Kingdom… he really wasn’t confident in his chances. However, things were different for Ning. Ning might not be able to do anything to them, but he was more than strong enough to defend himself.

  When dealing with soul and truesoul related attacks, defense was much easier than attack. So long as the difference wasn’t too ridiculously large, Heartforce Cultivators would generally be able to endure enemy heartforce attacks.

  “Let’s go.” Ning nodded. “We naturally can’t give up a chance like this.”

  “Hahaha! Wonderful. I imagine that the most powerful of the Endless Territories’ famous Daolords will be headed there. And that’s just on the surface. I imagine many of the powerful but low-key Daolords will be headed there as well.” Ninedust said excitedly, “Darknorth, neither of us are all that famous in the Endless Territories, but when we join forces we really will have no one to fear.”

  “Agreed. We can deal with any type of attacks.” Ning felt quite confident as well. The two of them weren’t very famous just yet.
Ning had killed Kongsan, there were still very few who knew the name ‘Daolord Darknorth’. As for the Ninedust Sectlord, he wasn’t that famous either. Both weren’t nearly as well-known as King Gorsch, Skyaxe, Dawnstar, or other such figures.

  “Let’s not waste time. Let’s head in that direction immediately,” Ning said.

  “Agreed. Let’s move right away. If we are too slow, it might end up being taken by others.” The Ninedust Sectlord didn’t want to waste time either.

  ……

  The Endless Territories. Vastheaven Palace.

  Daolord Solesky and Daolord Battlemaster were already meeting about this matter.

  “What?!” Daolord Battlemaster stared at Daolord Solesky in astonishment.

  “Ugh. Neither I nor Badlands imagined that something like this would happen. We were moving quite carefully, and you know how skilled Badlands is in Numerancy. Neither of us expected that we’d end up falling into Emperor Waveshift’s trap. We just kicked over the hornet’s nest.” Daolord Solesky shook his head. “Based on what I know, the top organizations of the Endless Territories already know about this. The emergence of the Voidsea Jadeseals will definitely attract an enormous number of Verge-level Daolords to hasten towards us. Compared to them, we’re nothing.”

  “Big brother Solesky, don’t worry too much. My guess is that Emperor Waveshift planned this out long ago. There’s no way he would allow anyone to acquire those jade seals with ease. Anyone who touched them would immediately cause certain spells to be activated that would cause all of this to happen. The entire point was to draw the Verge-level Daolords of the Endless Territories over to the Waveshift Realm to fight over the seals,” Battlemaster said.

  “Right. This was indeed part of Emperor Waveshift’s plan.” Solesky acknowledged it as well. “How could any single Daolord possibly be allowed to acquire all five of these legendary seals? Of course their emergence would cause a huge fight and struggle.”

  Battlemaster carried out a few calculations, then let out a shocked sigh. “All I can see is a storm of blood and death! The Waveshift Realm is going to become an utter charnel house of frenzied slaughter and murder. I can’t even calculate how many Daolords will die in there.”

  “Major powers skilled in Numerancy should be able to calculate how incredibly deadly the Waveshift Realm will be, but no amount of danger will prevent these Daolords from coming,” Daolord Solesky said.

  Often, less than one in a hundred thousand Daolord would be able to succeed in the Daomerge, and the vast majority of those who succeeded were extremely ordinary Daolords. The incredibly powerful Daolords… the Endless Territories had been around for countless aeons, but how many powerful Daolords ended up becoming Eternal Emperors?

  Based on their calculations, it was highly unlikely that any of the powerful Daolords of this generation would successfully become Eternal Emperors! Thus, everyone would be absolutely fearless in their pursuit of the seals.

  “Battlemaster, I suspect that Vastheaven Palace will be in danger as well,” Daolord Solesky said. “This is all my fault. When I went to the Waveshift World, I didn’t imagine what an enormous commotion this would cause. Thus, I didn’t hide the fact that I was heading there. I imagine that a number of people in the Endless Territories know that I entered Waveshift Palace long ago. Those Daolords might come here and seek out trouble for Vastheaven Palace. Your true body should lead our brothers away from here and hide for a time.”

  “Hide?” Daolord Battlemaster frowned. “Very well. I can already vaguely sense that trouble will indeed be coming. I’ll immediately lead our brothers somewhere else to hide for a time.”

  Of the Daolords of Vastheaven Palace, Solesky, Brightfish, and Ning all had only avatars present. The only Daolord who had both his true body and his avatar here was Battlemaster! Battlemaster was also skilled in Numerancy. Although he was still inferior to Badlands in Numerancy despite having reached the fourth step when the latter was still stuck at the third, he was still someone who had become a Daolord of the Fourth Stance through Numerancy. If he led the brothers of Vastheaven Palace to hide, there probably really wouldn’t be many who could find them.

  Just as they were discussing this matter…

  “Big brother.” A voice suddenly rang out as a golden-robed youth walked over. It was Ning’s avatar.

  “Ji Ning.” Solesky smiled as he looked at Ning. “I was just about to go talk to you.”

  “Because of the trouble in the Waveshift Realm?” Ning immediately asked.

  “You know about this as well?” Solesky was startled.

  “I just heard about this. Does this have anything to do with you, big brother?” Ning was rather worried. In truth, he was still just a Daolord of the Second Step, and he hadn’t spent much time as a Daolord. Thus, the Brightshore Kingdom hadn’t gone out of its way to inform him of this matter! And in truth, there really was no for them to do so. It was extremely difficult for Ning’s World-level retainer to maintain contact with his clone located in the distant Brightshore Kingdom.

  “It does have a bit to do with me. To tell you the truth, Badlands and I were the ones who caused this.” Solesky shook his head, a bitter smile on his face. “We ended up taking a beating, but didn’t get any of the seals at all. Honestly, neither of us had really been expecting that we would. I was just hoping to get a ‘heartshift pearl’ and use it to bolster my Daomerge chances. Why would’ve thought that we’d somehow cause the Voidsea Jadeseals to emerge?

  Solesky knew his own limits. Given that no one had been able to acquire the seals despite the passage of countless chaos cycles, how could he possibly hope for himself to acquire it? If he had to blame someone, the only one he could blame was Daolord Badlands for being absolutely incredible in Numerancy. The latter had been able to find and solve some of the more critical questions before them, resulting in them activating the protections which Emperor Waveshift had left behind.

  “No need to worry too much about this matter,” Daolord Solesky said. “You have enough to worry about in the Terror Starsea. Stay careful!”

  “Right.” Darknorth, the Terror Starsea is also quite a terrifying and dangerous place. Big brother Solesky at least has Daolord Badlands’ avatar helping him out. Given the latter’s Numerancy abilities, the two will be able to avoid much trouble. It shouldn’t be hard for them to avoid trouble,” Daolord Battlemaster said.

  Ning let out a sigh of relief when he heard this. Right. In terms of protecting others, even Ning himself probably wouldn’t be useful as Badlands’ avatar.The latter was simply too powerful in the Dao of Numerancy.

  “Right. Darknorth.” Daolord Battlemaster asked hurriedly, “When your big brother Solesky first headed to the Waveshift Realm, he didn’t really try to hide it. As a result, Vastheaven Palace will probably face some trouble. My true body will hide within Vastheaven Palace alongside our brothers. Will your avatar stay here or accompany us?”

  “Wait, what’s this about Vastheaven Palace facing trouble?”

  Book 31, Chapter 18 - Daolords Assemble

  “I should be the only Verge-level Daolord to have entered the Waveshift Realm in recent memory.” Daolord Solesky said heavily, “I didn’t go out of my way to keep my trip a secret. Although not too many know about my trip, there are still a few Verge-level Daolords who know.”

  “The only one?” Ji Ning’s face turned pale.

  Daolord Solesky explained, “The Endless Territories have many dangerous locations within them, and the Waveshift Realm holds very few treasures! There’s nothing of real interest aside from the Voidsea Jadeseals, making it a much less enticing proposition than the Terror Starsea. Ever since Emperor Waveshift departed, no one has ever been able to find so much as a single one of those seals. Thus, there are now very few Daolords who will brave the dangers of the Waveshift Realm. I should be the only one to have gone inside in recent memory.”

  “Then this is going to be trouble.” Ning nodded. “Everyone will be able to guess that someone inside th
e Waveshift Realm probably caused the enormous stir. If you are the only one who has gone inside lately, you are going to become everyone’s target.”

  “Not just me. Even Badlands is going to be in trouble as well.” Daolord Solesky shook his head.

  ……

  Daolord Solesky’s prediction was frighteningly accurate. The Badlands Court was indeed in trouble.

  BOOM! A wicked black cloud descended upon the entire Badlands Court. A black-robed woman stood at the center of that black cloud. Her skin was green, her eyes were crimson, and she had a pair of curved green horns on her head. She called out in an icy voice, “Badlands!”

  “Fellow Daoist Dustrain.” An azure-robed man stood in front of the Badlands Court. It was Daolord Badlands’ avatar.

  “An avatar? Are you actually going to send a mere avatar to meet with me?” Fiendqueen Dustrain let out a cold snort.

  Daolord Dustrain was referred to as ‘Fiendqueen’ due to her exceptional strength as well as the fact that she walked a devilish, demonic path. She was publicly acknowledged as the seventh most powerful Daolord of the Endless Territories! But of course, this ranking was only based on the Daolords who had revealed their strength to the outside world. There were many low-key ones who had not, and the outside world knew very little about them. For example, the Ninedust Sectlord was roughly on par with Daolord Dustrain but very few people knew about him.

  “I’m quite sorry, but my true body has departed some time ago along with my wife for some sightseeing.” Daolord Badlands’ avatar swept the distant skies with his gaze. “Fellow Daoist Dustrain and the other fellow Daoists off in the distance… I know why all of you have come! The strange and incredible happenings within the Waveshift Realm are indeed related to me. However, I swear on my very life itself that neither I nor Daolord Solesky have acquired so much as a single Voidsea Jadeseal. Haha… Emperor Waveshift plotted all this out in advance. There’s no way he would have let us acquire them with such ease.”