Desolate Era

by RWX

  Ning nodded while the nearby Azurefiend said, “The ‘Icewind Sea’ we visited in the past was a place which was formed from a convergence of freezing energy that was roughly comparable to a territory in size! The Blazesun Domain, however, is unfathomably vaster in size and scope than the Icewind Sea. It is one of the Eight Domains, the most supreme of sacred lands, and it is comparable in size to more than half of a realmverse.”

  The Icewind Sea was an ‘ordinary’ sacred land, while the Eight Domains were the most supreme sacred lands of the entire Chaosverse. All sorts of unique living beings had gathered here, including Sourcewalkers, the occasional Chaos Primordials, and more.

  “Daolord,” Hegemon Goodsong said warmly, “There are two ways for us to travel into Houwu City. The first way is fairly safe; it involves us avoiding many dangerous locations, and it’ll take us tens of millions of years to get there. The other method is to just blaze our way straight through. We might run into quite a great deal of danger in doing so, but we’ll only need five hundred thousand years or so.”

  “We’ll go straight through,” Ning said.

  “Right on!” Hegemon Goodsong continued hurriedly, “We might encounter some danger when going straight through, but I should be able to resolve any dangers myself. If we encounter something really serious, we can then have the Flamewing God intervene as well. There should be no need for you to personally intervene, Daolord.”

  “Alright.” Ning nodded. Goodsong was now a Golden Emperor; between him and the Flamewing God, the vast majority of dangers could be easily resolved.

  Whoosh. The realmship flew straight into the Blazesun Domain, charging towards Houwu City at maximum speed.

  The Blazesun Domain was a place where an incredibly vast amount of flaming energy congregated. Its vast size actually gave it superior stability, resulting in it being a world unto itself. It was filled with fire, but there are also places with earth, water, stone, and more. There were many empty pockets of space where the temperature was a bit higher than in ‘normal’ realmverses, but Celestial Immortals and Empyrean Gods would still be able to survive.

  The more stable a region was, the more hospitable for life it would generally be.

  But of course, the Blazesun Domain also had some incredibly dangerous places within it, places which were far deadlier than the Icewind Sea. The Icewind Sea merely had two Sourcewalkers in it; the Blazesun Domain had far more! However, they were scattered throughout the entire domain, making chances of running into them quite low.

  ……

  Whoosh. A dark-red river could be seen surging through the emptiness of space, stretching off into infinity. This dark-red river had to be many millions of kilometers long, and it emanated an aura of endless heat. Every so often, a few serpentine beings could be seen swimming through the river.

  “Gwaaaaar!” A long black serpent lifted its head and half of its enormous body above the surface of the river, focusing its flaming gaze on Ning’s realmship, which was advancing through the region at high speeds. Its eyes were filled with malevolence, and it raised its serpentine head high as it let out an earth-shaking roar.

  The roar actually generated a ripple of power that caused space around it to twist and distort. Instantly, additional giant blackflame serpents lifted their heads up as well. Cultivators were actually trespassing here? They were courting death!

  The environment here was extremely inhospitable to ordinary life. There was no way to warp through spacetime here, and so Ning’s group had to physically fly through this region. If they wanted to avoid it, they would have to take a detour that would last millions of years.

  “Blackflame River has dozens of these giant blackflame serpents living within it. All of them are unique creatures born from the Quintessence of the Chaosverse, but only three of them have reached the Otherverse Lord level of power. Most of the others are Hegemons; they are of little danger,” Hegemon Goodsong immediately explained. “Once Flamewing appears, they’ll be so terrified that they won’t dare to move.”

  “Mm.” Ning said, “Flamewing, go out with Goodsong and give these little black snakes a good scare.”

  “Heh heh heh… they look delicious, actually.” Flamewing immediately flew out of the realmship, letting out an excited howl as it transformed into its true form. Bathed in flames, the Flamewing God flapped its giant wings and immediately swooped down towards the nearest blackflame serpent. Clearly, Flamewing enjoyed being in the fiery environment of the Blazesun Domain. Being here excited it, and as a result it moved with such incredible speeds that the giant blackflame serpent was terrified. Its malevolent aura vanished and it immediately moved to flee… but how could it possibly escape?

  * * *

  Book 39, Chapter 13 - They Finally Meet

  Crunch! The Flamewing God’s giant maw came crunching down upon the blackflame serpent. As Flamewing began to chew, the blackflame serpent’s writhing body suddenly began to erupt with flames. Soon, it became burnt to ash.

  This sight completely terrified the other blackflame serpents in the flaming river.

  “Chaos Primordial, hurry up and leave our territory!” an exceptionally large blackflame serpent roared furiously, but it didn’t step forward. It knew that perhaps the only members of the race who would survive a fight against Flamewing would be him and the other two leaders. The others were completely incapable of battling against a Chaos Primordial. If an actual battle erupted, they would simply be throwing their lives away.

  “Grrr…” Flamewing let out a loud and smug growl.

  “Impressive. If I tried to go up by myself, I’d definitely be surrounded by them,” Hegemon Goodsong said enviously. Flamewing had a virtually indestructible body and possessed incredible speed; surrounding it was useless. Most likely, only Sithe Exalts would be able to effectively surround and threaten it.

  “Let’s leave.” Seeing this, Ning knew that the blackflame serpents would no longer try to bar their path.

  ……

  With Hegemon Goodsong and the Flamewing God clearing a path for them, their journey was simple and uneventful. Ning didn’t need to intervene a single time.

  They did encounter several unique and bizarre types of lifeforms, all of whom were birthed from within the Quintessence of the Chaosverse! The most powerful creatures birthed from the prime essences were the Chaos Primordials and the Sourcewalkers, but both were incredibly rare. Chaos Primordials were born with immense power, while Sourcewalkers were a bit weaker but had incredible powers of insight and thus had more room to grow.

  The other creatures born from the prime essences were blessed with far less power than the Chaos Primordials and far weaker levels of insight than the Sourcewalkers. They were much more numerous, but on the whole the Sourcewalkers remained the most powerful creatures birthed from the prime essences! This was because the most powerful Sourcewalkers were actually comparable to Sithe Exalts in terms of power.

  For example, the Blazesun Domain had one of these supreme Sourcewalkers within it who was comparable to Sithe Exalts in power! But of course, he was the only one in the entire domain who had reached such a level of power.

  ……

  520,000 years went past in the blink of an eye.

  “Master, Houwu City is up ahead,” Azurefiend called out as he controlled the realmship.

  “Houwu City?” Ning stared at it from afar. This was a city covered in countless mysterious runes that levitated within the emptiness of space. It rippled with formations, and it was surrounded by numerous levitating continents as well.

  “Daolord Darknorth,” Hegemon Goodsong said quickly, “We cultivators only have this single city in the entire Blazesun Domain! This is a place where we can hide and rest while we are adventuring through this region. The entire city itself is actually a powerful Sithe war-fort and it is capable of easily defending against any dangers, so long as the Ruler of the Blazesun Domain doesn’t come and attack in person.”

  “The Ruler of the Blazesun Domain?” Su Youji c
ouldn’t help but ask, “Who is that?”

  “Youji,” Ning smiled as he explained, “The term ‘Ruler of the Blazesun Domain’ refers to the most terrifying Sourcewalker located in the Blazesun Domain. The legends say that he is as powerful as a Sithe Exalt. His overwhelming power means that he is honored with the title of ‘Ruler of the Blazesun Domain’. However, in the end he’s still just a Sourcewalker; he won’t get involved in the affairs of the cultivator civilizations.”

  “Right. So long as you don’t offend the Blazesun Ruler, he won’t make trouble for us either,” Hegemon Goodsong said. “After all… we have the invincible Autarchs on our side! As a result, the supreme Sourcewalkers don’t dare to go too far. Even if he does become so crazy as to assault the city of Houwu, the city should be able to hold on for a while albeit at great cost. Given enough time, most of the cultivators should be able to flee.”

  As they spoke, the realmship continued to move towards the levitating city at high speeds.

  “Halt!” a loud shout rang out. The city’s entrance was guarded by a golem guard.

  “Hurry up and send word,” Hegemon Goodsong barked back, “That Daolord Darknorth has arrived!”

  “Daolord Darknorth?” The golem guard was shocked. “I’ll send word to Master right away.”

  ……

  The entire city of Houwu was in a state of uproar. News spread quite quickly amongst cultivators, and just a few seconds later the news that Daolord Darknorth had arrived at the city was known by a majority of the cultivators here. The Hegemons and Eternal Emperors, as well as the few fearless Samsara Daolords who had chosen to adventure in the Blazesun Domain, all came flying out to see what the legendary Daolord Darknorth looked like.

  “Daolord Darknorth has arrived?”

  “Where is he?”

  “Look over there! Daolord Darknorth is flying within the realmship above the city.” More and more cultivators came pouring out from every direction, and they all hastened to stare at the main gates in front of the city.

  “Quick! Quick! Brother Treewind, Brother Jade Rainbow, Nuwa… all of you, hurry over here and accompany me in meeting with Daolord Darknorth!” Lord Houwu was the most impatient of them all. Patriarch Treewind and Nuwa had been meditating silently, but they were immediately startled awake and hurriedly came running over.

  “Hurry up and go welcome them!”

  “Daolord Darknorth has arrived?”

  Patriarch Treewind, Imperator Jade Rainbow, and Nuwa all grew nervous right away, with Nuwa being the most nervous of them all. Daolord Darknorth had come all the way here from the distant Flamedragon Realmverse for the sake of meeting her!

  The green-robed Lord Houwu was the first to fly into the skies, with Patriarch Treewind, Imperator Jade Rainbow, Nuwa, and the others all following by his side. The cultivators around the gates all parted before them, not daring to bar their path.

  Lord Houwu was at the head of the delegation. Behind him was Patriarch Treewind and Nuwa, and at the very rear were the other Hegemons and Emperors. They exited the city gates in an awesome procession. Houwu City, as a war-fort, was covered with barrier spells. Generally speaking the barriers would remain sealed, preventing people from simply flying out.

  Above the city hovered that realmship.

  “I am the Governor of Houwu City, and I respectfully welcome Daolord Darknorth!” The green-robed Lord Houwu immediately bowed respectfully, his face covered with joy. His Daoist title was ‘Houwu’, and so he had named this war-fort after himself after acquiring it.

  “We respectfully welcome Daolord Darknorth!” The surrounding Golden Emperors, Otherverse Lords, Hegemons, Eternal Emperors, and Samsara Daolords all bowed respectfully as well.

  Faced with the legendary Daolord Darknorth, these major powers were as nervous as Ning himself had been when he had first met Autarch Titanos. The difference in power was simply too great! Even the most powerful person here would probably be slain by a single blow from Ning’s sword. How could any of them dare to show the slightest bit of incivility towards him?

  “Who is this Daolord Darknorth?” Nuwa was standing behind Lord Houwu. She stared into the skies, her heart filled with curiosity.

  “No need to stand on ceremony.” A wave of power surged out, pressing against Nuwa’s arms and preventing her from bowing down.

  For the others to show Ning such respect was one thing, but Nuwa was different. Ning felt a sense of tremendous respect for Mother Nuwa. Perhaps he was now much stronger than her, but Patriarch Subhuti was his master. Mother Nuwa had shown great favor to Patriarch Subhuti in the past, and indeed had done great things for the entire Three Realms. How could he possibly allow Nuwa to bow towards him?

  “This aura…” Nuwa was secretly startled. In fact, all of the cultivators were shocked. For his aura alone to be so powerful meant that Daolord Darknorth lived up to his reputation.

  Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Three additional figures came flying out from the realmship. The first was the chubby Flamewing, the second was the red-robed Hegemon Goodsong, and the third was Hegemon Azurefiend. After flying out, they stood slightly behind the white-robed youth who bore the black sheath on his back. In addition, Ning was flanked by the simple, muscular Protector Whitethaw and the dazzlingly beautiful Su Youji.

  This white-robed youth had appeared with his entire entourage. His aura wasn’t all that powerful, and his truesoul was slowly fragmenting and dissipating. If he was an ordinary Daolord who had failed his Daomerge, these major powers wouldn’t care about him at all… but he wasn’t. This white-robed youth caused all of them to feel nervous and breathless due to the great difference in power between them!

  “Lord Houwu, sorry for the trouble.” Ning stepped forward, landing on the ground and smiling.

  “It was nothing more than conveying a message. It was my honor to be able to serve you, Daolord Darknorth,” Lord Houwu chortled. A thought came to his mind, and he hurriedly turned to glance at the nearby Nuwa: “Daolord Darknorth, this is Nuwa.”

  Ning’s gaze turned towards Nuwa as well. In truth, he already knew for certain that she was the person he sought, as there was no way to fake the karma ties between them. When he saw her just now, he felt absolutely convinced… because he was very familiar with her appearance. He had spent his entire youth visualizing the [Nuwa Painting], which was a depiction of Nuwa. How could he NOT be familiar with her?

  The woman before him was the legendary Mother Nuwa of the Three Realms.

  Ning stared at Nuwa, and she stared at him as well, her heart filled with many questions. She had the vague feeling that there had to be some sort of connection between them, but she simply couldn’t remember ever having met this Daolord Darknorth before.

  “Darknorth greets you, Nuwa.” Ning smiled.

  Nuwa was startled. For the legendary Daolord Darknorth to speak so courteously to her had caught her offguard.

  Ning chuckled, and as he did a voice suddenly rang out within Nuwa’s mind: “Pangu established Heaven and Earth, while Nuwa repaired the heavens!”

  * * *

  Book 39, Chapter 14 - Transmitting the Dao

  Nuwa instantly trembled. She stared with disbelief at the white-robed youth standing before her.

  “H-he…” Waves of emotion rippled through Nuwa’s heart. She instantly understood that Daolord Darknorth knew of her past! Either he came from the Three Realms or he knew of its history; in short, Daolord Darknorth definitely knew where the Three Realms was located! Nuwa had been searching for many years to return to the Three Realms, but she still had no idea where it was located!

  Which realmverse was the Three Realms in? She had no idea! She spent a great deal of time searching, but the Bluesky Domain was simply too far away from the Flamedragon Realmverse. Even a trip via realmship would take billions of years; even Otherverse Lords and other major powers would rarely drift to such a great distance. Such a journey would entail many dangers, after all, and they could easily get lost or even die. Unless there was an
extremely compelling reason, few would venture to such a great distance.

  “Haha, it seems as though this Nuwa before us must be the person you are searching for, Daolord Darknorth.” Lord Houwu immediately laughed and said, “To be able to meet at last after being separated by such a great distance is a joyful thing indeed. There’s no need for us to speak here outside the city; let’s hurry on inside! I’ve already prepared a fairly humble banquet to welcome you, Daolord Darknorth. I hope you’ll show me a bit of face and sit down for a time.”

  Ning nodded. “Very well.” Since he had found Nuwa, there was no need for him to rush into a conversation with her right in front of the gates.

  “You…” Nuwa stared at Ning, her heart filled with both excitement and confusion.

  “We can chat at length later. You have many things to say to me, and I have much to say to you,” Ning said.

  “Disciple, let’s invite Daolord Darknorth into the city first. There’ll be plenty of time to chat with him later.” Patriarch Treewind and Imperator Jade Rainbow both behaved with great friendliness as well.

  “Understood.” Nuwa was able to make herself be patient.

  Led by Lord Houwu and surrounded by many major powers, Ning entered Houwu City and travelled to the Lord Governor’s estate. The palace had already prepared a banquet for them, with the maids quickly assembling and making themselves up in order to welcome Daolord Darknorth.

  “Please come in, Daolord Darknorth.” Lord Houwu immediately led Ning to the highest seat.

  Ning didn’t decline, walking up and sitting down in the lotus position. He smiled: “Gentlemen, please be seated.”