Desolate Era

by RWX

  “They created the otherverses?” Ning was stunned. He had been to one of those alternate universes before. It had contained a complete set of prime essences, such as the Dao of the Sword and many other Daos. All of those things could be sensed! How could such a universe have been artificially created?

  “Autarchs are the true and absolute rulers of the Chaosverse who stand above all other living beings,” Hegemon Netherlily said. “We Eternal Emperors have developed our own eternal Daos… but that isn’t the true apex of cultivation. Only by making repeated breakthroughs and raising your Dao to a level where it can become one of the prime essences of the universe can a cultivator be capable of creating an otherverse.”

  “Autarchs are incredibly rare. I’ve never met any of them in my entire life.” Hegemon Brightshore shook his head, while the other two Hegemons revealed looks of envy and admiration. They hadn’t met any Autarchs either; they had only heard of them.

  “When the Sithe launched that war, it encompassed a great many places. The main reason why we cultivators were able to gain victory over them was because we had our Autarchs,” Hegemon Brightshore said. “Although the Sithe were extremely strong and incredibly advanced in many areas, the Autarchs led us to completely wipe the Sithe out in the end. If it wasn’t for the Autarchs, we probably would’ve been annihilated or enslaved long ago.”

  Ning, Ninedust, and Winesage were all speechless. Autarchs? So the highest level of cultivation in the Chaosverse was the Autarch level?

  “They are capable of reversing spacetime and roam through the Chaosverse with ease! They are even capable of creating those alternate universes…” Hegemon Brightshore continued, “If an Autarch was willing to spend the time, he would be able to destroy even the likes of the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels that threaten and will eventually annihilate our Flamedragon Realmverse.”

  “Autarchs are capable of destroying the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels?” The nearby Winesage couldn’t help but ask, “Then why don’t we invite them to help out? Are they really going to just watch as such a vast realmverse is annihilated?”

  “You are mistaken,” Hegemon Windrain replied. “Autarchs view things through a completely different lens than the rest of us. An Autarch once said that all things and all creatures in the universe must follow the natural cycle of life and death. The Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels were born from the primordial chaos for the express purpose of wiping out the Flamedragon Realmverse. In other words, it is part of the laws and functioning of the Chaosverse. If they were to forcibly destroy the Yin-Yang Samsara Wheels, they would suffer a backlash from the Chaosverse itself, and an incredibly strong one at that. The Autarchs are not willing to do such a thing.”

  “Autarchs have truly transcended beyond all things. They are absolutely invincible, and neither spacetime nor karma nor anything else have any impact on them at all.”

  “To them, the birth and destruction of entire realmverses is nothing more than the blooming and withering of a flower. I have never even seen an Autarch in my entire life.” Hegemon Windrain looked at Ning. “Darknorth, my young friend… only an Autarch is capable of rescuing your Dao-companion.”

  Ning’s heart sank. He had to ask an Autarch to intervene? The three Hegemons had been around for countless years, but none of them had even seen an Autarch. One could only imagine how difficult it would be to actually get an Autarch to help out!

  “Are these fruits enough?” Ning asked.

  “Haha…” Emperor Goldisle laughed. “Not even close. Not even close! A hundred times this amount of fruit still wouldn’t be enough.”

  “If you want an Autarch to revive your Dao-companion… if you actually owned the Crimsonwave Temple and offered it to an Autarch as a gift, you might succeed.” Hegemon Brightshore shook his head and laughed. “The fruits you have ripen every few thousand chaos cycles. Crimsonwave Temple can produce more and more fruit unto perpetuity.” Crimsonwave Temple itself was worth far more than a hundred times as much as all of the fruits Ning had acquired.

  “Ah!” Ning instantly understood.

  “So there’s nothing I can do right now, right?” Ning asked.

  “Right. None of us can do what you ask. Only an Autarch can.” Hegemon Brightshore looked at Ning. “But at least there is hope. If your Dao-companion was at the World level or was a Samsara Daolord, the backlash generated by reviving them would be exponentially greater. By then, you would have no chance at all.”

  “Right.” Ning quickly calmed down again. Prior to speaking to these major powers for the first time regarding the revival of Yu Wei, Ning had already mentally prepared himself for failure. Others might feel despair at this response… but Ning was actually filled with vigor! This was because he was still just a Daolord of the Third Step. Once he became a Daolord of the Fourth Step and further improved his [Heartsword] arts, he might indeed be able to acquire treasures that were as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple.

  “What if I was really able to acquire something as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple?” Ning couldn’t help but ask this follow-up question. “How would I go about finding an Autarch then?”

  “You wouldn’t need to,” Emperor Goldisle said. “The Dao Alliance would help you send the word to the Autarch.”

  “Oh?” Ning glanced at Emperor Goldisle in surprise. The Dao Alliance’s resources truly were unfathomable. It was actually capable of sending information to an Autarch?

  “But remember, given that Crimsonwave Temple is capable of giving birth to a new crop of fruits every few thousand chaos cycles or so, its value is far greater than that of the fruits you have acquired thus far. In fact, it’s worth much more than all of the treasures I’ve accumulated over the course of countless years.” Hegemon Brightshore smiled as he looked at Ning. “Darknorth, it won’t be easy for you to acquire something as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple. You need to mentally prepare yourself for this task.”

  “If you wish to reap great rewards, you’ll need to be prepared for taking on great dangers,” Hegemon Windrain said. “For example, the Terror Starsea. The Terror Starsea was part of the Dawn War’s battlefield and is filled with many leftover relics and treasures, but it’s also filled with countless dangers. If you are willing and able to take on the necessary risk, you might be able to find Hegemon-level relics or even powerful treasures left behind by the Sithe race. It’s entirely possible that you’ll find something as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple.”

  “Right.” Ning nodded.

  The three mighty Hegemons didn’t dare to take on too much risk without a good reason, as they were the pillars of their respective organizations. The Terror Starsea was simply too dangerous; even Hegemons might die in there if they were unlucky. The negative repercussions were simply too grave, which was why it was generally only the Daolords who dared to risk it. Daolords only stood an ephemeral chance of succeeding at the Daomerge anyhow!

  “Autarchs, eh?” Ning silently reflected on this term. Autarchs, the most supreme existences of the cultivation world, the leaders who led the cultivators to victory over the Sithe…

  “We are unable to reverse spacetime and revive your Dao-companion. Darknorth, what else do you plan to trade your fruits for?” Hegemon Brightshore asked.

  “Speak, Darknorth. What do you need?”

  “Just state your requests.”

  Emperor Goldisle, Hegemon Windrain, and the others all looked at Ning as they spoke.

  Since reviving Yu Wei was impossible for now, he would have to focus on further strengthening himself. Only then would he stand a chance at acquiring a treasure equivalent to Crimsonwave Temple in value.

  “Seniors.” Ning waved his finger, causing a series of runes to fly out. The many runes listed the various materials needed for Ning to train in the second and third levels of the [Sword Dao Body], the protective divine ability Ning had acquired from the deceased Sword Hegemon. There were four levels to this divine ability, and once reached it would allow Ning’s body to become comparable to the best Eternal treasures.


  “Seniors, take a look at these materials. How much fruit do I need to give up for them?” Ning asked.

  “Eh?” The three Hegemons and three leading Emperors all stared at the list, as did some of the other Eternal Emperors behind them who had yet to even speak.

  “Hm. I’ll only need sixty of the coldflame cauldron fruits for this,” Hegemon Netherlily said.

  “I’ll only need forty-five of the same.” Emperor Goldisle of the Dao Alliance smiled. The three mighty Hegemons and the other Emperors instantly looked at him in irritation. The items which Ning had requested were all extraordinary; as they saw it, at least fifty coldflame cauldron fruits would be necessary.

  “Emperor Goldisle, you are going a bit too far. Yes, your Dao Alliance has many treasures, but how can you give such a low offer?” Emperor Islehide frowned.

  “How are we even supposed to compete if you are going to act like this?” Hegemon Windrain complained in a rumbling voice as well.

  “Haha…” Emperor Goldisle laughed loudly. “We agreed early on that we’d compete fairly with each other. I’m doing just that.”

  Ning gawked at the sight. He also noticed that although Crimsonwave Temple had produced nine types of fruit, all of the Emperors were focused on the ninth fruit, the coldflame cauldron fruits. This made Ning realize just how especially attractive these particular fruits were.

  “Seniors, I’ve harvested eight types of fruit on this trip,” Ning said. “I’m willing to use the ‘purepeace fruit’ to trade for the materials I just requested. Might I ask how many are necessary?”

  The purepeace fruit ripened every 30,000 chaos cycles. Ning had 108,000 of them!

  * * *

  Book 34, Chapter 3 - Entering the Dao Alliances Palace of Immortals

  “Purepeace fruit?” The three Hegemons and three Eternal Emperors exchanged glances. Although all nine of the types of fruit in Crimsonwave Temple were valuable, there were still differences between them.

  The purepeace fruits, for example, ripened every 30,000 chaos cycles. There were 108,000 of them in each harvest. They were fairly numerous, and so the Flamedragon Realmverse’s six major powers were still able to acquire it through other channels. As a result, they weren’t all that desperate to acquire it. The coldflame cauldron fruits, however, only ripened once every 100,000 chaos cycles… and each time, only 300 were available during each harvest. As a result, people who acquired them would usually keep and use them for themselves! Very few were willing to trade them away, making them quite a hot commodity.

  “For the materials you need? 80,000 of the purepeace fruits will do,” Emperor Goldisle said with a chuckle. “These things are still quite rare. They have their uses.”

  The three Hegemons, Emperor Severfive, and Emperor Islehide were silent. Seeing this, Ji Ning understood that Emperor Goldisle had offered him quite a decent price.

  “Alright.” Ning revealed a smile. “Then I’ll give 80,000 of the purepeace fruits to Emperor Goldisle. Seniors, there are other treasures I need as well.”

  Another block of text appeared in midair. This list included the materials needed to train in the first two stages of the secret art which the Sword Hegemon had provided to Ning, the [Grand Diffraction Sword] technique. To Ning, although a protective divine ability was very important, a strong secret art was even more important. Ning had already pretty much squeezed as much power as he could out of the nine novessence arts; by the time he became a Daolord of the Fourth Step, they simply wouldn’t be able to keep up.

  The [Grand Diffraction Sword] consisted of three stages. The cost to fully master it would place a heavy burden upon even Hegemons; Ning felt that he probably didn’t have enough fruit.

  In addition, to master all three stages, one had to have reached an extremely high level of skill in the Dao of the Sword. Most likely, one would have to reach a level comparable to that of the deceased Sword Hegemon first. Thus, the first two stages were more than enough for Ning for now.

  “Oh?”

  “These materials…”

  The three Hegemons and three Emperors all hesitated.

  “Give me all 300 of the coldflame cauldron fruits and I’ll help you collect them,” Emperor Islehide said in a low voice.

  “Emperor Islehide is able to acquire all these items? Impressive!” Hegemon Netherlily laughed softly. “298 coldflame cauldron fruits, my young friend Darknorth, and I’ll help you collect them.”

  “Seniors, I’m willing to use these types of fruit to trade for them instead.” As Ning spoke, he caused seven different types of fruit to appear before him. These were the fruits corresponding to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh command talismans.

  “Clever.”

  “What a clever boy.” The three Hegemons and the three Emperors all laughed. They could tell that Ning realized how enticing the coldflame cauldron fruits were to them and thus wasn’t in a rush to sell them off.

  ……

  After extensive negotiations the Dao Alliance, the Brightshore Kingdom, the Aberrants, and the Aeonians jointly produced the materials necessary, taking away more than half of Ning’s fruits in recompense.

  Now, all Ning had were:

  300 of the coldflame cauldron fruits from the ninth talisman;

  28,000 of the purepeace fruits from the first talisman;

  230 of the golden sandsifter fruits from the seventh talisman;

  310 of the darkheaven yin-fruits from the sixth talisman.

  ……

  “Seniors, I’ve pretty much listed all the treasures I need,” Ning said. “I plan on paying a visit to the Palace of Immortals to see what they have in their treasury.”

  “Haha, our treasury in the Palace of Immortals has everything within it. The Dao Alliance definitely has more treasures than anyone else,” Emperor Goldisle said with a smile.

  “You aren’t going to trade anything else?”

  “Darknorth, my young friend…”

  The three Hegemons, Emperor Severfive, and Emperor Islehide were all startled. Ning was going to stop trading and instead go straight to the Palace of Immortals of the Dao Alliance? It must be remembered that thus far, he hadn’t produced a single one of the coldflame cauldron fruits, the most valuable of the nine fruits!

  “Darknorth.” Hegemon Brightshore looked towards Ning.

  Ning hurriedly explained, “Hegemon… seniors… my lifeblood weapons need to grow and to consume more materials, but I don’t know exactly what they need. That’s why I wish to go to the Palace of Immortals, so that I can test out the various materials! Once I’ve selected the materials I need, I’ll naturally notify all of you and allow the auction to proceed fairly.”

  “Lifeblood weapons?” All of them now understood, as they had lifeblood weapons as well.

  “No point wasting time. Come, let’s go to my Palace of Immortals right away,” Emperor Goldisle said with a smile. He then glanced at the others. “Hegemons, Emperors, you can come along with us… the Palace of Immortals will treat you with the utmost of courtesy.”

  “We wouldn’t dare enter the Palace of Immortals.”

  “We’ll wait outside of it.”

  “Let’s go.”

  The various figures immediately began to depart.

  “Darknorth, follow me.” Emperor Goldisle smiled as he sent a spatial bubble out to cover Ning, then tore through space and departed with Ning in tow.

  ……

  The Palace of Immortals was an incomparably mysterious place. Ning had heard of it long ago, but he had never seen it.

  “Here we are, Darknorth.” Emperor Goldisle’s voice rang out. Ning stared towards the front, stunned. In front of him was an absolutely enormous group of palaces that hung in the middle of space, radiating blinding light and a mighty aura. The radiance was so dazzling that Ning was truly dazed by it, while the power contained within the aura caused Ning’s heart to tremble.

  Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. One figure after another appeared next to Ning
. They were Hegemon Brightshore, Hegemon Windrain, Hegemon Netherlily, Emperor Severfive, and Emperor Islehide, as well as the subordinates they had brought with them. Ninedust and Winesage had been brought over as well.

  “Darknorth.” Ninedust’s voice rang out within Ning’s ears.

  “Ninedust.” Ning glanced at Ninedust.

  “I’m embarrassed to say this, but…” Ninedust revealed an awkward look. “The Hegemon instructed me to ask you to at least sell some of the coldflame cauldron fruit to us Ancient cultivators.”

  Ning revealed a smile as he sent mentally, “Got it. Don’t worry.” Ninedust was his brother; since he had made the request, Ning knew what to do.

  “Darknorth.” Winesage sent a mental message as well, a similarly awkward look on his face. “Darknorth, our Dark Kingdom is constantly beset by dangers. Just staying alive is difficult. I’d like to ask you to sell some of those coldflame cauldron fruits to the Dark Kingdom.”

  “So long as the Dark Kingdom has the items I need, that won’t be a problem,” Ning replied.

  Hegemon Brightshore looked at Ning as well. “Darknorth.”

  “Don’t worry, Hegemon. I know what to do,” Ning replied.

  ……

  Favors and friendships were important, but being as fair and even-handed as possible was just as important, as was growing more powerful.

  “Let me lead you inside, Darknorth.” Emperor Goldisle guided Ning in, with Ning staring everywhere in curiosity as they flew into the Palace of Immortals.

  None of the Hegemons or Emperors present were worried that the Dao Alliance would play a dirty trick like killing Ning to steal his treasures.

  First of all, although these fruits were rare they weren’t so important as to cause Hegemons or the Dao Alliance to not care about face. Only something as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple itself could possibly do that.

  Secondly, only Daolords could harvest the fruits that ripened every few tens of thousands of chaos cycles from Crimsonwave Temple! If the Hegemons or the Dao Alliance dared to murder Ning, which Daolords in the future would be willing to take on the risk of helping them go harvest fruit?