Desolate Era

by RWX

  After reviewing the other techniques, Ning understood that gaining true mastery of the [Heartsword] art was possible only through one way – true and utter devotion to this Dao!

  However, knowing and doing are two completely separate concepts. He knew what he had to do, but he still was unable to make the necessary breakthroughs. If breaking through was that easy, Emperor Heartsword wouldn’t have been the only person in all of history to have been able to truly master this [Heartsword] art.

  ……

  More than eighteen million years went by.

  The six Northbow swords were hanging in the air, furiously stabbing downwards in an illusory manner. Finally, with a popping sound, the last barrier was broken through by Ning.

  “Success.” The distant Ninedust revealed a delighted look.

  “He was actually able to break through over 80,000 barriers with just sword-arts.” The two clan leaders were both rather startled. These formations encompassed every type of barrier possible, including bewildering and illusory ones. Thankfully, Ning was a Heartforce Cultivator and thus wouldn’t be misled by them. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have been able to resolve those formations.

  The white-robed Ning just stood there, his six Northbow swords hanging in the air. The swords descended in unison, flying back into the sheath on his back.

  “Whew.” Ning let out a sigh of relief. He could sense that the past eighteen million years of formation-breaking had been a form of tempering for his sword-arts. He now had gained quite a few new insights into them.

  “But I still have no clue as to how I am going to reach the fourth stage with the Omega Sword Dao. Becoming a Daolord of the Fourth Step truly is difficult,” Ning sighed to himself. He really didn’t have much hope; all he could do was to continuously advance. Sooner or later, he would break through.

  “My young friend Darknorth, these fruits are all quite extraordinary. They are far more valuable than ordinary omnigeddon bloodfruits,” the sea dragon leader said.

  Ning turned to glance at it. The two clan leaders were both staring at Ning, as were the nearly two hundred beasts off in the distance. To them, the past eighteen million years had been nothing at all.

  Ning and Ninedust exchanged a glance. Both of them knew what had to be done.

  “Be careful,” Ninedust sent mentally.

  “Don’t worry,” Ning replied mentally.

  Boom! Ning’s body blurred as it suddenly expanded dramatically in size. He instantly became the size of a towering mountain that was three million meters tall, the same height as the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree itself.

  “You grew pretty big,” the flaming equine leader said with a laugh.

  “It makes harvesting easier.” Ning reached out with his hand, easily plucking one of the flame-colored fruits at the very crown of the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree, then putting it away.

  There were some fruits which could only be harvested in certain ways; for example, there were certain fruits which would vanish when touched by the hand. The omnigeddon bloodfruit, however, could only grow if they underwent ten thousand tribulations during their growing process! It was fine to harvest them by hand; they weren’t delicate at all.

  Soon, the thirty-six fruits growing throughout the tree were completely harvested. Ning lowered his head to harvest the final fruit located at the base of the tree. He pulled the fruit into his estate-world with a thought, then reached out with both hands to grasp the trunk of the omnigeddoon bloodfruit tree. He immediately sent out his divine power to cover every inch of the tree, protecting its roots and branches.

  “Get up.” Ning exerted his power, allowing his full might to be unleashed. Boom! In the end, the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree was nothing more than a tree; the Azureflower Estate world’s fruit trees had been warded by the master of the estate, which was why Ning was unable to damage them. In fact, he had been restricted to harvesting just a single fruit. The omnigeddon bloodfruit tree, however, was ‘only’ protected by those 80,000+ barriers. By now, Ning had long since destroyed those barriers, and without them blocking his path he was able to easily harvest all of the fruit from the tree.

  Whoosh! The entire massive omnigeddon bloodfruit tree was uprooted from the earthy ground. Countless roots began to rise up out of the earth, but the layer of divine power covering the tree ensured that it was completely undamaged.

  “Ah?”

  “This…”

  “He’s…” the two clan leaders and all of the spectating beasts stared in amazement at this sight. The massive tree had just been uprooted by the similarly massive Ji Ning, who moved so fast that they weren’t even able to react in time.

  “In you go.” With but a thought, Ning easily drew the uprooted omnigeddon bloodfruit tree into his estate-world.

  “Ah?!” After putting away the tree, Ning had been feeling quite excited and planning to flee alongside Ninedust. In fact, Ninedust had already flown towards him like a streak of light… but the look on Ning’s face had changed.

  Boom! After he uprooted the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree, an enormous crevice had revealed itself underneath him. This enormous crevice was extremely deep, and at the very bottom of it there was a small pool of red liquid! This small pool of what looked like congealed blood was also thirty thousand meters in size! It rolled about like a miniature red sun.

  Previously, the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree had been blocking it out, with Ning not having sensed its aura at all. Now that Ning had already uprooted the tree, he could sense a stately and ancient power instantly emanate outwards.

  * * *

  Book 35, Chapter 11 - Autarchs Blood

  Ji Ning felt as though he was an ant who was facing the vast, starry night sky. Ning instantly turned pale, finding it hard to breathe as that aura of power swept outwards. It was simply terrifying. The aura of that glob of blood… it vastly surpassed the auras of any of the Hegemons Ning had met thus far! Although Hegemons had incredible auras, they couldn’t even compare to the blood-red ‘sun’ that was glowing before him.

  At Ning’s current level of power, he was strong enough to smile and jest in the presence of Hegemons. But when faced with this pool of red blood, he felt utter terror from every fiber of his very being!

  “What is that?!” Ninedust came charging over. He had been planning to take Ning away and flee, but he was instantly dazed when he saw that large pool of blood-red liquid, roughly thirty thousand meters in size.

  “Darknorth, my young friend… it is useless for you to take away that omnigeddon bloodfruit tree.” The sea dragon leader began to laugh. “The reason why that tree was so marvelous was all due to this drop of blood.”

  Ning and Ninedust stood next to each other. They could leave this world whenever they wished, and so they were in no haste to flee just yet.

  “I uprooted the bloodfruit tree. Don’t you care?” Ning asked.

  “Why should we care?” The sea dragon leader laughed, “Long ago, this world didn’t even have the bloodfruit tree in it. For you to uproot it does nothing to us at all.”

  “If this world originally didn’t have a bloodfruit tree in it… where did it come from?” The nearby Ninedust asked, “And… did you just say that this giant pool of liquid is a drop of blood?”

  “Yes, a drop of blood. This is a drop of blood which Autarch Bolin created after pouring tremendous amounts of work and essence into it, and it is filled with boundless mysteries,” the sea dragon leader said.

  “An Autarch’s blood?” Ning and Ninedust were enlightened. This wasn’t just a random drop of blood from Autarch Bolin; it was something which Autarch Bolin had spent tremendous effort in refining. No wonder it was so terrifying!

  “Long, long ago, Autarch Bolin left behind this drop of blood. We have been here on the Autarch’s orders, and we are to prevent all cultivators from reaching it. Daolords, Emperors… everyone must pass the trials before gaining access to this drop of blood,” the sea dragon leader said. “Later on, the Aeonians discovered this place an
d came here.”

  “They realized that the Autarch’s blood was simply too powerful! Thus, they came up with a way to graft the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree, a tree with tremendously strong vital energy, on top of it. The tree naturally rooted itself around the Autarch’s blood, and over the course of many years it began to slowly evolve and transform before it finally managed to draw some of the essence from the blood.”

  “After absorbing some of the Autarch’s blood, it began to grow larger and larger while giving birth to more and more fruit. Now, it has finally reached a size of three million kilometers and can give birth to a crop of thirty-six fruit at a time,” the sea dragon leader said. “Every single fruit is far more special than ordinary omnigeddon bloodfruit, because they were grown from an Autarch’s blood.”

  “This tree has spent more than thirty million chaos cycles absorbing the blood and has already transformed. It shall always produce thirty-six fruits with each harvest. However, now that you have uprooted it, it no longer has access to the Autarcvh’s blood and so the fruit it produces shall most likely be nothing more than ordinary omnigeddon bloodfruits. That makes the value of this tree much lower than before.”

  Ning’s face tightened. True. Ordinary omnigeddon bloodfruit trees produced three fruits per harvest, while this one produced thirty-six! This made it comparable to twelve ‘ordinary’ bloodfruit trees. However, the fruit only possessed miraculous properties due to having absorbed blood from the Autarch. That was the reason why the tree could be described as having a hundred times the value of an ordinary tree!

  “Just ten or so times?” Ning knew that he couldn’t be too greedy, but he still felt rather disappointed. This sort of treasure was not nearly enough to ask an Autarch to help out.

  ……

  The sea dragon leader suddenly said, “The Autarch said that if one day, someone arrives who is capable of taking away this drop of blood, our two races shall regain our freedom. Darknorth, my young friend, you can try for yourself whether or not you can take the Autarch’s blood away.”

  “Yes, if you can take it away, we shall regain our freedom.” The flaming equine leader grew excited as well, as did the hundreds of beasts within the world. Life here was simply too boring. Many of them had been born here, but the oldest ones had been sent here by Autarch Bolin himself. They knew just how lively the outside world was, whereas this place was incredibly dull and lonely.

  “Take it away?” Ning and Ninedust were intrigued.

  “It was created by the Autarch, who poured all of his effort into its creation. It is incomparably precious, far more than a hundred times more valuable than the tree you just uprooted. Most likely, even other Autarchs would very much desire to acquire this drop of blood and learn some of Autarch Bolin’s secrets from it.” The sea dragon leader continued to describe how valuable this drop of blood was, causing Ning to feel even more eager.

  “Darknorth, give it a shot.” Ninedust looked at Ning and sent mentally, “You’d definitely be able to revive your Dao-companion if you acquire this drop of special Autarch’s blood.”

  “I’ll give it a shot.” Ning didn’t hesitate at all, immediately flying into that enormous crevice. As he moved closer to it, he saw that the round pool of blood was beginning to swivel and emanate auras of increasing power. Ning had to clamp down upon his fear.

  Although he couldn’t prevent himself from feeling terrified, he didn’t feel any sense of danger at all. This meant that this blood drop wouldn’t cause any harm to him. Autarch Bolin had left it behind for future generations of cultivators to benefit from, not die from.

  Whoosh. Ning exerted his will, causing a divine power clone to appear next to the pool. The clone reached out with its right hand to touch the giant pool of blood. Ning wanted to be careful; this way, he would at most lose a bit of his divine power rather than his own life.

  “Eh?” The drop of blood was incredibly cold, but it didn’t cause Ning’s clone any harm at all. “Arise.” The divine power clone tested out applying a bit of power to it.

  Rumble… the drop of blood immediately began to shake and shudder. Silken lines began to appear all across this entire vast planet, with all of the lines converging upon the drop of blood. Ning’s divine clone was completely unable to move it at all.

  “Arise!” Seeing this, Ning moved his true body over to the pool. He manifested three heads and six arms, then reached out with all six arms while using his Hegemon armor to cover and protect his hands as they delved into the pool of blood.

  Ning pulled, hard. Boom! It was like an ant trying to shake a tree; the countless lines across the world connecting to this blood drop fought against him. If Ning wanted to move this blood drop, he would have to be able to overcome the might of this entire planet.

  “Lift it up! Move it away!” The two clan leaders and the hundreds of beasts all watched eagerly. The day this drop of blood was taken would be the day they completed their responsibility to test the cultivators who came to this place. Only then would they be able to leave.

  “Arise. Arise. Arise!” Ning did his utmost, but there was no way he could overcome the full power of this entire planet. This was an estate-world which had been created by an Autarch, after all; it was incredibly stable and not something which the likes of him could shake.

  ……

  Inside the Aeonian Kingdom. There was a beautiful, ancient palace here which served as the central temple for the entire kingdom.

  A handsome youth was seated atop the royal throne within the temple, dressed in elegant black robes. His aura was awe-inspiring and remote. He was the true supreme leader of the Aeonian race… Emperor Anchen. He had been protecting this place since time out of mind, because this temple was connected to the five most important ancestral grounds of the Aeonian race. Every single one of the five was extremely important… but of course, the most important was the ‘first ancestral ground’. This was because it had been left behind by Autarch Bolin himself.

  Rumble… suddenly, a tremor swept through the palace. Emperor Anchen was connected to all five ancestral grounds as their protector; he naturally noticed it and immediately turned pale. “The first ancestral ground! Its shaking!?” This was a world which had been created by Autarch Bolin, and the Aeonians knew it well; the only thing which could cause that entire world to shake was if someone was acting against the Autarch’s blood, the most important treasure of all.

  “Emperor Islehide, Emperor Duug, there may be invaders within the first ancestral ground. Come right away!” Emperor Anchen sent frantically.

  Just a few seconds later… swoosh! Swoosh! Two figures simultaneously appeared. One was the handsome, red-haired Emperor Islehide; the other was the tall, skinny, and pale-faced Emperor Duug. The two had been shocked by what they had just heard and had immediately hastened over.

  These three were the three most powerful Emperors of the Aeonian race here in the ‘Endless Territories’.

  “There are invaders in the first ancestral ground?” Emperor Islehide and Emperor Duug were both anxious and filled with murderous intent.

  “Yes, go in right away,” Emperor Anchen shouted.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Let’s go.” The bodies of the three Emperors began to blaze with flames. These flames were generated by the igniting of the Aeonian blood. To open the link to the first ancestral ground was extremely difficult; an enormous price would have to first be paid. However, now that something strange was going on inside they could no longer afford to worry about it.

  * * *

  Book 35, Chapter 12 - Devastating Rage

  The three most powerful Emperors of the Aeonian race were all covered in blazing flames which began to reach out and connect to each other, slowly forming a strange diagram of a giant claw-shaped hand. This looked like the technique which Autarch Bolin had left behind in that beastworld.

  Rumble. The flames from the ignited Aeonian blood instantly reached out to cover all three Emperors. Swoosh! They were teleported stra
ight into the estate-world.

  “Let’s move as fast as we can.” The three Emperors stared at the void around them, then turned to look at the astral river. They knew that they had already arrived, and Emperor Anchen shouted anxiously, “If we’re late, things will be even more difficult.”

  “Let’s go.” Whoosh! Emperor Anchen generated a dimensional wave and led the other two Emperors with him as he instantly vanished.

  This world was extremely stable; not even Hegemons would be able to forcibly tear through spacetime, much less them! However, mere dimensional teleportation was much simpler, as it was merely an evasion-art which rode dimensional waves across fairly short distances.

  “There we are.” After the third dimensional wave, they appeared in the skies above that enormous, strange planet within the astral river.

  “No…!” Emperor Islehide’s face instantly turned pale, and his scarlet eyes instantly turned blood-red. “The tree! Our omnigeddon bloodfruit tree has vanished!”

  Emperor Anchen and Emperor Duug stared as well. They saw that off in the distance, there were ripples of energy spreading outwards and pushing aside the surrounding mist. The three of them were able to see that nothing more than a giant crater was left where the omnigeddon bloodfruit tree had been, and within the crater was a giant figure which was holding onto the Autarch’s blood and seeking to take it away.

  “Not only did he take away our omnigeddon bloodfruit tree, he also wants to take away the Autarch’s blood?” Emperor Anchen was so enraged that he ground his teeth to the point of shattering.

  “That’s Daolord Darknorth and the Ninedust Sectlord!” Emperor Islehide immediately recognized that Ji Ning was the one holding onto the Autarch’s blood, while the figure next to the crater was that of Ninedust. Emperor Islehide had met the two of them after the Waveshift Realm adventure, and he had even purchased some fruit from Ning. Now, however, they had become mortal enemies!