Desolate Era

by RWX

  “The Three Realms are finally about to face the apocalypse,” Ning murmured.

  “What?” Brightmoon was stunned. She stared at her father, shock apparent in her bright eyes. “Father, did you just say that the Three Realms are about to be destroyed?”

  “Yes.” Ning nodded. “Normal chaosworlds will only last for a single chaos cycle. After being destroyed, they will coalesce into ‘Worldhearts’ that will then give birth to a new world and a new cycle of life. Long ago, Mother Nuwa led our Three Realms to defeat the Seamless Chaosworld. A total of nine chaos cycles have gone by since then. Nine! This represents an absolute limit. It is indeed time for the Three Realms to be destroyed.”

  “Then what should we do? Should we move to stop it?” Brightmoon asked.

  “Why should we? Destruction and rebirth are all part of a cycle, the natural functioning of the Chaosverse.” Ning smiled. “And the major powers of the Three Realms have long ago established their own chaosworlds. We’ll simply relocate Swallow Mountain to one of them.”

  “Alright.” Brightmoon nodded. These days, experts were as common as clouds in the Three Realms. It had a decent number of even Samsara Daolords. Ever since Ning had brought back the three hundred-plus Hegemonic legacies to the Three Realms, it had undergone yet another golden age. Its cultivators had exploded with power, and the rate at which the Three Realms gave birth to experts was even more ridiculously high than for the planet within the Stone Hellephant Wall.

  ……

  In the primordial chaos outside the Three Realms. There was a region here that was tens of thousands of times vaster than the Three Realms themselves, and chaosworlds were scattered throughout this region in accordance with an incredibly complicated formation.

  There were a total of 3900 chaosworlds here, and they were linked together in a massive formation which Ning had developed based on his insights into the Dao of Formations. The Sithe discs had been emplaced within the formation, becoming part of it! Ever since Ning began to truly analyze the Sithe formations, he finally began to be able to make perfect use of the Sithe discs.

  The power of the formations and the Sithe discs was such that it would be extremely hard for even Hegemons to breach the local defenses.

  Over the course of countless years, the three thousand-plus chaosworlds had given birth to countless living beings. As a result, the denizens of the Three Realms had truly thrived.

  “And there it goes.” Many figures stood there within the void, staring towards the distant Three Realms. The golden-robed Ning, Subhuti, and Windfiend stood at the front of this group. Ning was the number one expert of the Three Realms; that went without saying. Subhuti and Windfiend were incredibly talented as well; after having analyzed over three hundred Hegemonic legacies, they had merged multiple Supreme Daos together and become Samsara Daolords. By now, both Subhuti and Windfiend were both Daolords of the Third Step.

  Maitreya, Crazy Ji, Sun Wukong, Jade Cauldron, Kuafu… a total of nineteen had become Samsara Daolords. However, none of them had been able to fuse multiple Supreme Daos together. Maitreya was one of the more impressive ones, having at least mastered a single Supreme Dao.

  As for World-level cultivators? They were ridiculously abundant. There were over ten thousand of them by now! Even Brightmoon had been able to train to the World level under her own power. Alas, Ning’s father and mother were much weaker when it came to cultivation. Even though Ning personally guided them, they still weren’t able to reach the World level. In the end, Ning had to rely on using medicines to forcibly uplift both his father and his mother to the World level.

  “The Three Realms is in a golden age. We have over ten thousand World-level cultivators, which is just slightly less than the Badlands Territory itself. However, we have far more Samsara Daolords than the Badlands Territory.” Subhuti sighed emotionally. “The more I wander the outside world, the more I feel that the Three Realms are truly incredible.”

  “Yes.” Ning nodded. “However, the Chaosverse is a vast place. There are more than a few other locations which have given place to a high density of experts.”

  “The techniques which Darknorth brought back were of great help as well. On average, the cultivators of the Three Realms have all risen by a complete level,” Windfiend said. “Otherwise… there’s no way we would have this many Samsara Daolords, while Subhuti and I probably wouldn’t have fused Supreme Daos together.”

  Ning agreed with this assessment. A good reservoir of techniques was extremely important, which was why the Aeonians viewed those three hundred-plus Hegemonic legacies as priceless treasures. Alas, Ning was now so powerful that the Aeonians didn’t even dare to voice a word in protest. All they could do was pretend that none of it had ever happened.

  Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

  The distant Three Realms was slowly collapsing. One world after another began to crumble as the rivers and the mountains began to break apart.

  Ning and the major powers who had been born from the Three Realms all watched from afar, their hearts filled with emotions. However, all of them were at peace, because they had already relocated everyone and everything they cared about away from the Three Realms.

  “Quick, look over there! The new Worldheart is beginning to take form.”

  “The Worldheart of the Three Realms.” The various Daolords and World-level cultivators were all chatting amongst themselves. Ning watched intently as well.

  The vast Three Realms continued to collapse until its very core became an invisible black hole that devoured everything in its path. All of the shattered bits of world-rubble were all drawn into that invisible hole, causing it to slowly stabilize and become solid. An invisible surge of power began to spread out from it, causing even Ning to feel a vague sense of awe.

  This was the power of the very essence of the Chaosverse itself.

  “It has finally taken form. Is that over there the new Worldheart of the Three Realms?” Ning stared from afar. The Three Realms had already completely vanished, leaving behind a pair of glittering gemstones that were embedded into each other. Normally, Worldhearts were supposed to consist of a single, perfect gem. However, the Worldheart of the Three Realms was very unique, as it was formed from the collision of those two chaosworlds. Both gems had been damaged and lost certain parts, but each just so happened to compensate for the losses of the other, allowing the two to form a perfect whole.

  The embedded double-Worldheart was dazzlingly beautiful and absolutely marvelous. Ning had never seen a Worldheart like this before. “How beautiful.” Ning couldn’t help but sigh in praise.

  * * *

  Book 37, Chapter 26 - The Complete Seven Flaming Hells

  “So this is the Worldheart of our Three Realms? I’ve never seen one as beautiful as this one,” Subhuti said as he sighed in astonishment, staring intently at the Worldheart.

  “It has a special magnetism to it, as though it is filled with infinite vitality and possibilities.” The nearby Windfiend nodded in amazement as well, an intoxicated look flashing through his eyes. “Every single ray of light coming from that gem is absolutely beautiful.”

  Ji Ning nodded slowly as well. All three of them were incredibly talented figures. Ning’s experiences went without saying; just think about how much treasure he had forced the Hegemons and Emperors to hand over within the Jadefire Realm! He had seen all types of treasures by now. Subhuti and Windfiend were now incredibly talented Daolords of the Third Step who were on the same level of power that Ninedust had been when Ning and Ninedust had battled for the first time. All of them were highly experienced figures… and all three of them were truly stunned by how beautiful the Worldheart was. It was completely different from other Worldhearts.

  “This should be the reason why our Three Realms has given birth to cultivators of such incredible power,” Ning said.

  “Given how extraordinary the Worldheart is, the chaosworld born from it will naturally be extraordinary as well.” Subhuti smiled.

  “Let u
s see what the ‘new Three Realms’ will end up looking like,” Windfiend agreed.

  ……

  Time slowly flowed on. Ning, Subhuti, Windfiend, and the other major powers all continued to watch silently as the Worldheart continued its transformation. The Worldheart slowly melted away, its power dispersing into nine thousand different parts, with a much smaller remnant core left behind where the original Worldheart had been. This was the largest of the nine thousand ‘pieces’.

  36,000 years went past. 9000 Gods and Fiends of Primordial Chaos were born. These Fiendgods were at different levels of power based on how much of the Worldheart’s power they had each absorbed. The weakest were merely at the Empyrean God level, while the strongest was the Fiendgod born from the remnant core that looked like a miniature Worldheart. This one was born at the World level of power.

  This World-level Fiendgod was born with such overwhelming power that the other Fiendgods didn’t dare to approach him. This caused him to feel great loneliness, and on one day he rose to his feet and lifted his hands up, using them to tear through the primordial chaos and establish a vast chaosworld around him. His body began to grow in size as he poured all of his energy into sustaining and strengthening this chaosworld, making it grow as well.

  “This Chaos Fiendgod should be even stronger than Pangu once was.” Subhuti stood off in the distance, watching as the new Three Realms were born. This was his evaluation.

  “Pangu was once the most powerful of the Chaos Fiendgods of the Pangu Chaosworld, but the Pangu Chaosworld’s Worldheart was merely a single unblemished gem,” Windfiend said. “The new Three Realms are different. Its Worldheart was formed from the collision and merger of the Worldhearts of the Seamless Chaosworld and the Pangu Chaosworld. It only makes sense for it to give birth to a Chaos Fiendgod who is stronger than even Pangu.”

  “But once he establishes Heaven and Earth, he shall die.” Ning couldn’t help but sigh when he saw this. That incredibly powerful Chaos Fiendgod was being guided by invisible laws; its very existence was for the sake of establishing this chaosworld.

  Finally, the Chaos Fiendgod died of exhaustion… but he had already completely established an incredibly vast new chaosworld! The old Three Realms had been shattered into countless pieces, but the new Three Realms was a perfect whole.

  The Fiendgods warred across the new Three Realms for supremacy, and all sorts of new lifeforms were born. More and more mortal lifeforms emerged, and eventually cultivation techniques were invented which allowed them to embark upon the path of cultivation.

  ……

  The new Three Realms, as a fairly extraordinary type of chaosworld, was destined to live a fairly long life. Two chaos cycles went past, but it remained extremely stable.

  “Odd.”

  “Although we haven’t taken too heavy a hand in guiding the new Three Realms, we have left behind many legacies in the void around it. We’ve even accepted some of the most talented cultivators of the new Three Realms into our tutelage, and have transmitted our most precious techniques to them. Why is it that not a single one of them has been able to fuse multiple Supreme Daos together?” Subhuti, Windfiend, and Ning were having another get-together. Suhbuti was quite puzzled by the state of the Three Realms.

  Ning nodded slowly as well. “I noticed it as well. It seems as though, compared to the old Three Realms, the cultivators of the new Three Realms have on the whole a lower level of potential! However, they are still quite impressive compared to the outside world.”

  “We’ve secretly guided the new Three Realms for two chaos cycles, allowing it to give birth to more than a hundred World-level cultivators. There are no Samsara Daolords yet, but this is still an impressive haul.” Windfiend smiled. “To be honest, we had to undergo a process of slowly increasing our power as well. Prior to the Pangu Chaosworld and the Seamless Chaosworld colliding, Subhuti and I weren’t all that strong! It was when faced with the threat of annihilation that I suddenly had an epiphany which allowed my flying speed to surpass the limits of the Heavenly Daos. Once the ‘Three Realms Era’ began, Subhuti and I began to grow much more powerful as we spent more time training. His mastery Dao of Spacetime became even more unfathomable, while I learned to more perfectly merge ‘Wind’ and ‘Space’ together. More time had to pass, followed by you bestowing us with those incredible techniques, before we truly rose to power.”

  Ning nodded. As his own level of insight increased, he began to gain a better sense of attunement towards the future and towards fate. Ning now had the feeling that the ‘Three Realms Era’ that came about as a result of the collision between the Pangu Chaosworld and the Seamless Chaosworld would be the most powerful era for the Three Realms. The later generations would all be significantly weaker, and not even the most supreme of legacies would change that.

  “Eh?” Ning suddenly revealed a look of delight.

  “It seems Darknorth just received some good news.” Windfiend smiled.

  “I just found the way to rescue a good friend of mine,” Ning said.

  ……

  The Terror Starsea. The Jadefire Realm. The hidden control room.

  Ning’s divine power calm remained seated above the altar, staring downwards at the enormous flower-shaped ‘Seven Flaming Hells formation-diagram’.

  “After training for over a thousand accelerated chaos cycles, I’ve finally gained mastery over this formation-diagram.” Ning was absolutely delighted.

  This had been an extremely difficult task. To fully unlock the formation-diagram, one needed to have reached extremely profound levels of insight into the Dao of Space and the Dao of Fire… and of course, the Dao of Formations.

  Thus, Ning had first spent quite a bit of time analyzing the Dao of Fire. Fire and water mutually opposed each other but also reinforced each other. Ning thus chose to spend some time on the Dao of Water as well, so as to more quickly and thoroughly understand the Dao of Fire.

  It took Ning a full chaos cycle to reach the Archon-level in the Dao of Water, even with the aid of the Autarch’s stone! As for the Dao of Fire, it took three entire chaos cycles.

  Next, Ning focused on ‘space’. Ning wasn’t really talented in this regard, and ‘space’ was an incredibly difficult Dao to comprehend. While focusing on the Dao of Space, Ning also spent part of his time analyzing the Dao of Lightning, because he discovered that the Dao of Lightning was intimately connected to the Dao of Space.

  Ning was quite skilled in the Dao of Lightning. It took him only two chaos cycles for him to reach the Archon level in this Dao. Only after finishing his work on the Dao of Lightning did he focus all of his attention on the Dao of Space once more.

  It took him more than two hundred accelerated chaos cycles before he was able to create an Archon-level technique pertaining to the Dao of Space!

  Now, he had reached sufficient heights in both fire and space. Ning turned all of his attention to the art of formations itself.

  The Dao of Formations was an extremely complicated and awesome Dao. Ning spent more than eight hundred chaos cycles in accelerated time before he was finally able to reach a high enough level that he could understand how the Seven Flaming Hells’ formation-diagram worked! Thankfully, Ning had access to the many Sithe formation records which Autarch Awakener had left behind. Those techniques had included many descriptions on them, allowing Ning understand their fundamental principles and then take control over the formation-diagram.

  “The Dao of Formations truly is insanely difficult.” Ning was speechless. “I had the Autarch’s stone dais helping me out, but I still spent over eight hundred accelerated chaos cycles working on it! If I didn’t have the stone dais, I could’ve spent a thousand times as much time in training without being able to succeed. In other words, there would’ve been no chance that I would’ve been able to finish mastering it during my 108,000.”

  Ning felt a bit celebratory. Thank goodness he had the Autarch’s stone dais! That was why he had ‘only’ spent eight hundred chaos cycles to
solve the Seven Flaming Hells formation-diagram.

  This was proof that it was best for Daolords to focus on their areas of expertise. Ning was skilled in the Dao of the Sword, and so he trained in it quite quickly. He was also skilled in water and thunder, and thus he trained fairly quickly in those two Daos as well. Fire was a bit slower, while space had been ridiculous; it took him two hundred chaos cycles to reach the Archon level in it. As for the Dao of Formations? That went without saying.

  “For me to have found the Autarch’s stone dais was a stroke of tremendous luck. Oh, Ninedust… you have no idea how lucky you are as well, to be able to make it out of this place.” Ning chortled. He really was delighted! After spending over a thousand chaos cycles in total, he had finally solved the Seven Flaming Hells formation-diagram. This sense of excitement and accomplishment truly was joyful.

  “Let me see if I can control it all.” Ning’s divine power clone stared downwards, sending out a tendril of its will.

  Rumble… the enormous flower-like diagram of the Seven Flaming Hells began to light up. Countless shadow images appeared throughout the hidden control room, and the images represented the entire Jadefire Realm! Every single flaming passageway and prison appeared, all of them under Ning’s control. He was now able to activate any prison cell with but a thought.

  “Eh?” Ning’s divine power clone suddenly narrowed its eyes, turning to stare at the very center of the Jadefire Realm projection. There was actually another hidden region located directly beneath the prison region.

  “There’s ANOTHER secret region?” Ning frowned.

  * * *

  Book 37, Chapter 27 - Flamewing God

  The hidden control room at the very center of the prison region was meant to control the formation-diagram which governed the entire Jadefire Realm. What, then, was this second hidden room directly beneath the prisons meant for?

  “Turn!” Ji Ning sent out a strand of his will, causing the entire outer layer of the Jadefire Realm to rumble as it began to turn and swivel. Every single prison cell began to swivel as well as it switched to a new configuration.