Desolate Era

by RWX

  Everything seemed so ordinary, as though nothing at all had happened… but Solesky, Azurefiend, and the others all sighed silently. All powerful experts were able to sense the tiny ripples generated by a decaying truesoul. Even though the ripples were incredibly minute, they were constant and continuous. Even though Ning’s truesoul was unfathomably more powerful than an ordinary mortal’s, given enough time it would still be extinguished.

  “Master.” Flamewing raised its giant head to stare at Ning rather desperately.

  “Darknorth.” Solesky and Azurefiend wanted to say something, but both hesitated. Su Youji’s eyes were completely red, and she was using her Immortal energy to evaporate her tears as soon as they appeared.

  “Look at all of you.” Ning laughed. “Everyone who has chosen the path of cultivation knows how difficult a path this is. The Daomerge for an Omega Dao is the most difficult of all! I’ve failed my Daomerge, but I was mentally prepared for that long ago. It is no big deal.”

  “Good.” Azurefiend’s eyes lit up and he called out, “Darknorth, you have only trained for a fairly brief period of time, but I must confess that my Dao-heart is inferior to yours. If I had failed my Daomerge, I wouldn’t have been able to endure it. Given my temperament, I probably would’ve gone crazy. Even if I managed to eventually calm down, it would’ve only happened after I vented for an extremely long period of time. I can’t promise anything else, but I’ll definitely continue to serve you. So long as you are alive, I will follow you and be by your side. I’ll also carry out to the absolute best of my ability any tasks you wish me to do in the future.”

  “Thank you.” Ning smiled. Some people who were forced to become retainers would feel resentment, but Ning and Azurefiend had known each other for so long that Azurefiend knew what type of person Ning was. Ning was an open, straightforward man who was benevolent to his friends and terrible to his foes. Azurefiend enjoyed his relationship with Ning, and he couldn’t help but feel heartache upon seeing Ning fail the Daomerge. He couldn’t help but sigh at how such a peerless Daolord was about to vanish from this universe.

  “Darknorth, your students and fellow disciples are all waiting outside. Shall you…?” Solesky spoke out.

  “Don’t worry about them. This can be considered a lesson to them as to how cruel and brutal the Daomerge is,” Ning said with a laugh. “Come, come! All of you, sit and drink with me. We’ll have guests arriving soon.”

  “Guests?” Azurefiend and Solesky were briefly startled, but then they immediately understood. The Lonely King and Realmslord Windgrace had been biding their time. Now that Ning had failed the Daomerge, they would probably make their move.

  “We’ll drink over here while awaiting our guests.” Ning turned to stare towards the outside, where a number of figures were flying over to Vastheaven Palace. He smiled. “Brother Brightshore, since you’ve arrived, share some wine with us.”

  Whoosh. The protective barriers around Vastheaven Palace split apart, allowing Hegemon Brightshore, Hegemon Windrain, Hegemon Netherlily, Daoist Bluestone, Emperor Goldisle, Emperor Blackcloud, and some other Hegemons and Emperors who were on good terms with Ning to fly inside. Everyone knew each other and could be considered friends. Now that Ning had failed the Daomerge, all of them felt great regret and wished to meet with him.

  When they saw how the white-robed youth greeted them all with a smile, the Hegemons and Emperors couldn’t help but secretly sigh once more. How many of them would be able to so quickly regain their calm after failing the Daomerge and suffering the most grievous blow a cultivator could possibly suffer? No wonder Daolord Darknorth had reached such impressive heights.

  A pity. Such a pity.

  His path was that of the Omega Dao. If he had chosen a simpler path, such as fusing multiple Supreme Daos, he probably would’ve already become a Hegemon.

  “Let’s not chit-chat too much today. Drink up!” Ning said.

  Hegemon Brightshore and the others all understood. An expert like Ning didn’t need the pity of others. “Alright, let’s just eat and drink!”

  “Darknorth, don’t blame me if I end up cleaning your entire stock of wine!”

  “Drink as much as you like. Our guests will probably interrupt us soon and prevent us from drinking,” Ning teased.

  “Guests?” Hegemon Brightshore and the others all quivered. They knew that Ning was referring to Lonely King and Realmslord Windgrace. They couldn’t help but sigh. The only ones present who could truly maintain their uncaring calm were Flamewing and Ning himself.

  ……

  The Hegemons, Emperors, Su Youji, Pillsaint, and Flamewing all casually sat down alongside each other. Some sat down on the grass, some sat down on the stone bridge, some sat down within the pavilion. Everyone had a wine-laden table before them, and the estate was filled with the sound of jesting and laughing.

  Just a short while later, a rumbling sound could be heard. Ning raised his head fractionally, glancing off into the distance. His gaze pierced through the void and allowed him to see a streak of azure light that had just reached the Vastheaven Everworld and making its way over here. This streak of azure light was the bearded, disheveled old ‘Realmslord Windgrace’.

  No one aside from Ning noticed the Realmslord’s arrival.

  “The Blacksun truly is remarkable. The Hiddenfiend Realmverse and the Flamedragon Realmverse are quite far away, but he was able to arrive in an instant.” Ning couldn’t help but sigh. “The Sithe truly are remarkable.”

  Realmslord Windgrace walked through the air within the Vastheaven Everworld, quickly arriving outside Vastheaven Palace. “My young friend Darknorth.” His voice suddenly rang out from outside.

  “Realmslord Windgrace has arrived. Come and share a few cups of wine with us,” Ning said. The barriers parted before the Realmslord, giving him a passageway inside. Realmslord Windgrace walked through the skies, following the passageway into Vastheaven Palace.

  The Hegemons and Emperors within the Darknorth Estate all rose to their feet. Even the irascible Hegemon Azurefiend rose. The only ones to remain seated were Ning and Flamewing. “Greetings, Realmslord Windgrace,” everyone said respectfully.

  When Realmslord Windgrace saw that Ning remained seated, he felt quite intrigued. His face, however, remained completely unruffled.

  “Realmslord Windgrace. Please have a seat.” Ning pointed at a table located atop a patch of grass.

  “This wine certainly smells nice.” Realmslord Windgrace walked over to the table, then sat down in the lotus position. He picked up the gourd of wine and began to guzzle it down. “Delicious, delicious! Darknorth, my young friend, I hurried here as soon as I heard that you failed the Daomerge. Alas… the Daomerge for an Omega Dao must have been incredibly difficult. The Autarchs once told me that no one has ever been able to succeed in the Daomerge with an Omega Dao.”

  The entire area quickly fell silent. The many Hegemons and Emperors no longer dared to say a word. Su Youji and Pillsaint both sensed how oppressive and gloomy the atmosphere had become! For Realmslord Windgrace to immediately raise the topic of Ning failing the Daomerge meant that he had clearly come on business.

  “I imagine you already know why I have come here, my young friend Darknorth.” Realmslord Windgrace looked at Ning. “It would be very difficult to convince the Flamewing God to willingly serve me… but if you, his master, agreed to help out then things would be much simpler. I won’t force you to agree; in the end, it will be your own choice. If there’s something you desire from me, you merely need to let me know what you want! I, Windgrace, will definitely do everything within my power to accomplish it. In fact, I can even swear a lifeblood oath on it.”

  “Even if you do agree, I won’t take the Flamewing God away immediately. I’ll wait until you die and your Dao vanishes before doing so.” Realmslord Windgrace looked at Ning.

  “GWAAAAAAR!” Ning was quite calm, but the happily-eating Flamewing was enraged upon hearing this. It let out a vicious roar as it transformed in
to its true form of a winged, flame-bathed bear, then moved to charge straight towards Realmslord Windgrace.

  “Be good, Flamewing.” Ning’s voice caused Flamewing to come to a sudden halt. It turned to look rather unhappily at Ning. “Maaaaster!”

  “Be good. Just keep eating. Don’t worry about this stuff,” Ning said.

  “Oh.” Flamewing once more transformed into human form, then sat down and began to eat. Just two mouthfuls in, he once more turned his head to stare at Ning. “Master, the only one I’ll follow is you. I don’t like any of the others.”

  “WINDGRACE!!!” A cold, clear voice filled with frigid might suddenly rang out, shaking the skies above Vastheaven Palace.

  Ji Ning, Realmslord Windgrace, and the others all turned to look. They saw an enormous rift in spacetime appear in the skies above, with an entire host of figures flying out of it. There were more than fifty of the titanic onyx humanoids, and they were lined up in orderly rows. At their head was a pair of golden humanoids, who stood to each side of a giant, levitating silver throne.

  A silver-robed golden humanoid was seated atop the silver throne. He stared downwards at the distant Vastheaven Palace with a cold look in his eyes, and the blood-colored diamond in the middle of his forehead glared like an icy third eye.

  Lord Wulf led his four Black Emperors to immediately reunite with the others. Lord Wulf couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, his Majesty had arrived quite quickly. If he had been just a few minutes slower, things would’ve become troublesome.

  “You came quite fast.” Realmslord Windgrace’s voice echoed within the skies above the palace. “And you brought the entire Icepeak Army! It seems you must’ve been waiting outside the Flamedragon Realmverse for quite some time now. But… ‘Lonely’, you should probably know that the soldiers of the Icepeak Army would be throwing their lives away if they got involved in this. You should have them hide and avoid getting involved in this.”

  “And who would take their lives? You?” The Lonely King stared down at him from atop his throne.

  The Hegemons and Emperors inside Vastheaven Palace, the disciples of Vastheaven Palace, the Eternal Emperors who were watching from within the Vastheaven Everworld… all of them were completely stunned. Nobody dared to make a move.

  * * *

  Book 39, Chapter 2 - Struggle

  “T-that many legendary Black Emperors?!” The Eternal Emperors who had simply been drawn over by the aura Ji Ning had emanated during the Daomerge were utterly terrified out of their wits when they saw the Icepeak Army appear. Even the basic soldiers were all at the Hegemonic level of power, capable of wiping out the ordinary Emperors with ease… and the three generals had also come, alongside their leader the Lonely King himself!

  “Is that the legendary leader of the Icepeak Army, the Lonely King?”

  “I heard that Daolord Darknorth led the Flamewing God in attacking and killing quite a few Black Emperors of the Icepeak Army! However, the Icepeak Army hasn’t responded at all. Now, the Lonely King has finally appeared.”

  “Both the Lonely King of the Icepeak Army and Realmslord Windgrace of our Sixteen Realmverses Alliance has appeared as well. Hmph… they must have all come for the Flamewing God.”

  “It is a legendary Chaos Primordial. Who WOULDN’T want it? Daolord Darknorth is just a Daolord, but no one would dare to offend him with the Flamewing God by his side. Now that he has failed his Daomerge, the Lonely King and Realmslord Windgrace have come out to fight over the beast.” This was what the Eternal Emperors were whispering mentally to each other.

  In truth, they all wanted to just flee, but they were simply too slow. As for tearing through spacetime? The Icepeak Army emanated invisible ripples of such incredible power that they simply didn’t have the courage to do so, for fear that the Icepeak Army might kill them out of irritation.

  ……

  “Long ago, during the Dawn War, I encountered and fought far more Sithe than you have in your puny little Icepeak Army. If I activate the Blacksun, I’d massacre them all.” Realmslord Windgrace’s voice was filled with danger: “Lonely, if you are also interested in the Flamewing God, let’s sit down and have a peaceful little competition over it. But for you to bring the entire Icepeak Army… if we actually got into a fight, it’d probably impact the entire Vastheaven Everworld. If we aren’t careful, the shockwaves might hit Vastheaven Palace.”

  “Don’t worry. If I wasn’t able to control my power, there’s no way I would’ve been able to live as long as I have.” The Lonely King continued to sit atop his throne as he said coldly, “As for massacring my Icepeak Army? The only reason you were able to render so many merits during the Dawn War was because you had many other major powers helping you out and fighting alongside you.”

  “Gentlemen, let’s sit down and talk this over,” Ning said, wine cup in hand. His voice echoed out and shook the air above the everworld, but did so via riding alongside the natural ripples of the Dao. He would no longer use divine power or Immortal energy unless truly necessary.

  “Don’t get involved. Windgrace and I will decide amongst ourselves who is superior,” the Lonely King replied coldly. “Come on out, Realmsgrace. If you don’t come out, I’m going to batter my way inside.”

  “Hmph.” Realmslord Windgrace let out an angry snort, then rose to his feet. “Darknorth, my young friend, let me shoo the Lonely King away.”

  “Go ahead.” Ning didn’t stand on ceremony. Wine cup in hand, he simply watched as Realmslord Windgrace flew away.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The Lonely King’s silver throne suddenly glowed with dazzling light which flew out towards the right and left sides of his throne. There, a second and third Lonely King appeared, all seated on silver thrones of their own. There were now three Lonely Kings seated on three silver thrones, and they all looked identical and had identical auras.

  “Assemble the formation!” the Lonely King ordered. Whoosh! The silver diagrams covering his three Gold Emperor generals all lit up, as did the silver diagrams covering the many Black Emperors. They had always emanated dense, frigid auras, but now the aura swept out to form an entire silver-white wave of ice which roared out in every direction. The three generals and the many soldiers came together to form a strange silver formation-diagram, with their bodies being covered by a layer of silver armor.

  “Come. Let’s see if my Icepeak Army is stronger or if you are, Windgrace,” the Lonely King said coldly.

  Realmslord Windgrace strode out of Vastheaven Palace, his eyes narrowing slightly. In truth, he was quite wary of the Icepeak Army. It wouldn’t be too hard for him to deal with the Lonely King, but the Icepeak Army represented an enormous number of opponents. If he wanted to deal with them, he’d have to activate the Blacksun multiple times! In addition, to actually kill a Black Emperor would require the Blacksun to unleash a high level of power each time… and this would cost him greatly.

  He felt a 50% degree of confidence in dealing with the Lonely King and was 100% certain in being able to stay alive… but now that the entire Icepeak Army was here as well, his chances of victory were 10% at best, while his chances of staying alive dropped down to 80%-90%. Fortunately for him, the Lonely King felt rather nervous when faced with the Blacksun as well. This was why the Lonely King had immediately used a protective ability to divide himself into three.

  “You split yourself into three bodies? So long as I wipe out all three of you, you’ll probably die,” Realmslord Windgrace said.

  “Kill me? Go ahead and try.” The Lonely King’s voice remained as arrogant and domineering as ever. As soon as he spoke, the blood-red diamonds in his three foreheads simultaneously shot out rays of light.

  Swish! Swish! Swish! The three blood-red rays of light flew even faster than Flamewing as they struck out towards Realmslord Windgrace.

  Realmslord Windgrace remained quite calm. In front of him, a small fist-sized planet suddenly appeared out of nowhere. This planet was covered with countless runes, and it rapidly
expanded to become thirty meters in diameter. Boom! Boom! Boom! It effortlessly deflected the attacks of the three blood-red rays of light. Realmslord Windgrace then walked straight inside the small planet.

  “The Blacksun.” The Lonely King couldn’t help but feel frustrated. He had more treasures, but Realmslord Windgrace’s Blacksun was a terrifying war machine which had allowed the Sithe to influence and control an entire sector of the battlefield. The controller of the Blacksun could remain hidden within it in perfect security.

  “He might have the Blacksun, but he isn’t an actual Sithe; he doesn’t have their limitless reservoirs of energy. I, on the other hand, have many tricks up my sleeve. I can have the entire Icepeak Army attack him. So long as they can surround and entrap the Blacksun, even if he remains hidden inside it’ll be like he’s in a prison. The only result will be death,” the Lonely King mused. However, he also knew that his chances of actually killing Realmslord Windgrace were quite low, while the cost would be quite high.

  “So long as I can force Realmslord Windgrace to flee with the Blacksun, I’ll have won.” The Lonely King knew exactly what he needed to do. If the Realmslord fled, he felt certain that Daolord Darknorth would know what decision to make.

  “Attack!” the Lonely King commanded.

  Boom! The three Lonely Kings on the three silver thrones began to build an aura of increasing and terrifying power. This aura was so strong that even Ning, who was calmly drinking wine below them, to grimace slightly. He raised his head to stare into the skies, then murmured softly, “The legends say that the Lonely King was once able to annihilate an entire otherverse. Was this the technique he used? I can’t let them continue like this. If this fight progresses, they might accidentally destroy the Vastheaven Everworld.”

  “Halt!” Ning shouted as he rose to his feet, his voice tinged with a hint of anger.

  Up above him were Realmslord Windgrace, the Lonely King, and the Icepeak Army. They were just about to engage in combat, but all of them turned to stare blankly.