Desolate Era

by RWX

  “That’s the Blazesun Ruler.”

  “He’s caught up to us!” Imperator Jade Rainbow’s face was completely ashen.

  Whoosh! The Flamewing God, which had been swimming within the sea of fire, suddenly soared into the skies, its wings spread and its entire body bathed in flames. Its scales stood up straight like the hair on a cat as it stared intently at the black-skinned man. Although the Flamewing God’s body was much larger, it was clearly in a state of maximum wariness right now. It could sense that the black-skinned man standing before it was a danger to it.

  The feeling was much like when it had faced that Sithe Exalt! Perhaps Flamewing would be able to keep itself safe thanks to its indestructible body, but if it actually tried to fight this man then it would be completely dominated.

  “Chaos Primordial, eh?” The black-skinned man glanced towards Flamewing, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. “Chaos Primordials who like fire are quite rare. Young fellow, you should join me after I dispose of your master.”

  “In your dreams,” Flamewing howled, but it didn’t dare to attack. It knew that if it did, it would be utterly dominated.

  The black-skinned man couldn’t even bother to glance at the others. His attention was fully focused on the white-robed figure that lay hidden deep within that giant vortex. His grin grew wider. He truly had picked the perfect opponent; the man was able to force away the flaming waters of the sea merely through a Sword Dao domain!

  * * *

  Book 39, Chapter 23 - Ji Ning and the Blazesun Ruler

  “Daolord Darknorth, get your ass out here!!!” the black-skinned man shouted loudly. BOOM! A ripple that could be seen with the naked eye suddenly swept out and blasted at the distant vortex. This scene caused Patriarch Treewind, Nuwa, and the others to all feel shock – the man was far too powerful!

  Without question, Chaos Primordials and Sourcewalkers were the most favored children of the prime essences of the Chaosverse. Chaos Primordials were born with bodies that were unfathomably stronger than the bodies of the Golden Emperors of the Sithe, and they had more energy reserves than entire realmverses. If a Chaos Primordial managed to somehow train to the Hegemonic level, it would probably be stronger than even the Sithe Exalts!

  As for Sourcewalkers, although they had weaker bodies and energy levels than Chaos Primordials, they were still far superior to cultivators in both respects! Even the weakest of Sourcewalkers who never trained at all would still be at the Hegemonic level of power, a testament to their might. Just a bit of effort and they would become comparable to Otherverse Lords in might… and if they managed to upgrade their insights into the Hegemonic level, then they would have the power of Sithe Exalts!

  Alas, both Sourcewalkers and Chaos Primordials were extremely, extremely few in number. Thus, the entire race of Sourcewalkers ‘only’ had around ten or so members who were at the Sithe Exalt level of power.

  Everything in the Chaosverse was fair. Cultivators were blessed with far fewer gifts, but the most dazzling cultivators had absolutely incredible powers of insight and comprehension, such as Ning and the Autarchs. In fact, even the likes of God Emperor Helong or Nuwa vastly surpassed all Sourcewalkers in terms of comprehension.

  BOOM! The vortex of liquefied fire suddenly exploded as the wave of power slammed into Ji Ning’s Sword Dao domain.

  A white-robed youth with a black scabbard on his back came rising from the sea. He walked through the empty air until he reached a high point in the skies, then turned and stared at the muscular black-skinned man aboard the distant black warship.

  “Blazesun Ruler.” Ning had a smile on his face.

  “Why the hell were you running?” The Blazesun Ruler was palpitating with malevolence, and the two fiery globes that served as his eyes glowed with dazzling light. “I can’t believe you actually hid here for so long.”

  “I was intrigued and drawn here by the Wellspring Sea,” Ning said with a laugh. “As for wishing to avoid battle? I’m a Daolord who has failed the Daomerge. When I fight, I’m using up my own lifespan. I naturally wish to avoid combat when possible.”

  “That’s not for you to decide.” The Blazesun Ruler stretched out with his right hand, causing a giant fiery axe to appear within it. The axe’s surface actually glimmered with scorching black flames.

  “I’m impressed, Blazesun Ruler. This axe looks quite extraordinary.” Ning then glanced at the giant black warship. “I once saw another warship which was also completely covered with deepfire blackstone. That warship was named the Tigerhill, but it was already ruined. Domain Ruler, your warship seems quite similar to it.”

  “You can jabber as much as you like, but you aren’t going to be able to avoid this battle.” The Blazesun Ruler was filled with the desire to do battle, and flames were beginning to actually fly out of his eyes. “Die, Daolord Darknorth!”

  All his life, the one thing he loved the most was to engage in exhilarating battles against other apex experts! Alas, ever since he had become the Blazesun Ruler he had never again experienced such a battle. Today, however, he was going to get exactly what he wanted. He even shouted out the word ‘die’ because Daolord Darknorth would only fight with full power when his own life was on the line. That was the type of battle which would get the Blazesun Ruler’s blood pumping! A mere sparring match would be completely meaningless.

  “Eh?” Ning could sense the murderous intent raging within his opponent. Ning couldn’t help but frown: “Blazesun Ruler…”

  “Cut the crap. Fight or die!” The Blazesun Ruler could no longer hold back, and he immediately charged straight towards Ning.

  “I guess that’s that.” Ning truly didn’t want to fight and waste his remaining lifespan here. It just wasn’t worth it; the Blazesun Ruler was overwhelmingly powerful, and there was no way Ning could simply dispose of him in just one or two attacks.

  “You are forcing my hand, you battle-crazed maniac. Very well, then. I’ll teach you a lesson.” Ning reached out with his right hand, drawing forth a Northbow sword from the sheath on his back. There was no way he would use all six swords at the same time… because that would use up his lifespan even faster!

  “Fight!” The Blazesun Ruler charged through the skies, leaving behind a fiery-red streak behind him. He raised his axe up high, transforming it into an arc of flaming energy that seemed capable of chopping anything apart. The axe was a savage weapon by nature, and the Blazesun Ruler’s mastery over the Dao of Fire made it even more explosive.

  “He truly is blessed with an incredible body and natural talents. He’s merely at the Hegemonic level of insight, but he’s able to unleash an utterly terrifying level of power,” Ning murmured softly as he lifted his Northbow sword up.

  Rumble… countless streaks of sword-light spread out in every direction. This was his Sword Dao domain! The sword-light from his Sword Dao domain was able to kill Hegemons with ease. Its power was so great that it was on par with an Otherverse Lord’s full-force attack! Under Ning’s control, the flood of sword-light moved to bar the Blazesun Ruler’s path, serving as layers of obstacles that continuously stabbed at every part of his body, disrupting his movements and the mysteries behind his axe-attack.

  This axe-attack was clearly a powerful one, but with Ning’s Sword Dao domain continuously disrupting the Blazesun Ruler’s movements the axe turned sluggish. The mysteries behind its movements were disrupted, causing its power to lessen dramatically.

  “Mediocre insights.” Ning shook his head. If this person was a cultivator, Ning would be able to slay him with a single strike.

  “Impressive, Daolord Darknorth! Your Sword Dao domain is truly powerful, and your sword-arts are truly marvelous. You were able to disrupt my technique with ease. I once battled against a Sithe Exalt during the Dawn War, but not even he was as tough as you.” The Blazesun Ruler stared at Ning. “But I have yet to unleash my full power.”

  The Blazesun Ruler let out a furious roar, his body beginning to be covered with flames. At the same ti
me, the black armor covering his body began to flow like water, transforming to cover every single inch of his body. As for the fiery axe in his hands, the runes on the surface of the axe-handle suddenly lit up as flaming light appeared on the axe-edge. The power of this axe was rising to a level which caused even Ning to feel a hint of danger.

  “Now THIS is my full power. DIE!” The Blazesun Ruler, covered by that black liquid armor, went completely berserk as he charged forwards, using his giant axe to carve a path through the Sword Dao domain. The domain was now no longer able to affect him at all.

  “How brutish. Now this is the definition of the ‘brute-force method’,” Ning murmured softly. He took a single step forwards. Whoosh! He instantly warped through space and appeared right in front of the Blazesun Ruler.

  “That’s fast!” The Blazesun Ruler was shocked. Ning was simply far too fast; this was an enormous advantage which Ning had thanks to his overwhelmingly superior level of insight into the Dao! “But fast alone is useless.” The Blazesun Ruler immediately chopped downwards with his giant axe with tremendous power. He felt confident that even if his opponent was the Sithe Exalt he had battled so long ago during the Dawn War, the only choice would be to use a ‘soft’ technique to ablate the power of his strike.

  Ning, however, just waved his sword. His strike seemed quite ordinary, but it was bizarrely fast, so fast that the Blazesun Ruler’s giant axe was completely unable to block it. Ning’s sword slammed directly against the Blazesun Ruler’s body… and in that instant, the power of Ning’s sword suddenly erupted. In this instant, Ning’s sword became the most dazzling thing in this entire realm, and his sword-light blazed with a light that shone thousands of times brighter than the giant axe.

  Now THIS was Ning’s full-power strike!

  SLASH! The sword pierced straight through the layer of liquid black armor and cut deep into the Blazesun Ruler’s body, piercing all the way through and coming out from his back.

  “What an impressive ‘invulnerable form’.” The power of this sword-strike was causing enormous internal destruction to the Blazesun Ruler’s vital energy, but Ning could sense that the Blazesun Ruler’s ‘invulnerable flameform’ was resisting it fiercely. The power of Ning’s strike was used up after merely destroying 5% of the Blazesun Ruler’s truesoul.

  This had been a full-strength strike from Ning! If Ning wanted to actually kill the Blazesun Ruler, it would take him twenty such attacks… but if the Blazesun Ruler had other protective abilities up his sleeve, it might take fifty attacks or even more. The black warship was a good example; Ning had the vague feeling that it was powerful enough to completely disrupt the tempo of this battle. If it was factored in, it would probably take Ning more than a hundred strikes in order to kill the Blazesun Ruler.

  It must be remembered that this would not be a hundred ordinary strikes; this would be a hundred full-force strikes! That could well cost Ning nearly half of his life force… and if his opponent was more difficult to deal with than anticipated, Ning could actually die from this fight.

  “W-what…” as the Blazesun Ruler’s body was chopped through, his body transformed into fire and furiously strove to defend. He was at the Hegemonic level of insight, after all; his body was incredibly tough and he possessed a formidable invulnerable form which made it so that even the Sithe Exalt he fought had been unable to injure him.

  “He managed to injure me heavily with just one strike!” The Blazesun Ruler’s face was completely ashen. If a single strike could wipe out 5% of his truesoul… this was terrifying. This was his truesoul!

  Not even the supremely exalted Autarchs would be able to kill him with just one or two strikes. It would take the Autarchs a somewhat extended battle in order to kill him. It was likely that they weren’t much more powerful than this Daolord Darknorth.

  In truth, his guess was spot-on. In terms of profundity, the Eternal Omega Sword Dao was on par with the Daobirths of the Autarchs; the only difference was that the Eternal Omega Sword Dao wasn’t quite as ‘broad’. However, Ning was currently wielding what could be described as the number-one offensive treasure of the entire Chaosverse, the Northbow swords. This meant that his full-force attack was indeed on par with an Autarch’s attack.

  “Flee. Flee!” All other thoughts fled from the Blazesun Ruler’s mind as he immediately turned tail and fled. What he wanted was a fun and exciting battle, not to be massacred and killed!

  Whoosh! The Blazesun Ruler quickly fled into his black warship, then immediately sent it tearing through the membrane surrounding Wellspring Sea and fleeing far away. Ning didn’t move to stop him, just watching as he fled.

  “Master, are you really going to let him run away like that?” The Flamewing God finally regained his usual aura of bravado. “You should’ve just killed him and taken his warship away. That thing looks better than our realmship.”

  “Let’s leave as well,” Ning said.

  “Leave?” Nuwa, Su Youji, and the others all flew over. Su Youji asked in confusion, “Why do we have to leave?”

  “If I really wanted to kill him, it’d probably cost me half of my own life,” Ning said. “Let’s hurry up and leave. I scared him off with that attack, but he’ll quickly realize that I won’t be able to kill him that easily. He might even go and invite four or five of the other Domain Rulers to come with him. If that happens, we’ll be in trouble.”

  Su Youji and Flamewing had been feeling excited, but now they came back to their senses. They remembered that their master was a Daolord who had failed the Daomerge; each strike he used was consuming his own life force.

  “Let’s go.” Ning immediately led them into the realmship and hurriedly left the Wellspring Sea.

  * * *

  Book 40, Chapter 1 - The Imprisoned Exalt

  Spacetime around the Wellspring Sea was in a state of constant flux. It had taken even the Blazesun Ruler a full three years of travel via his warship before he had managed to pass through it. Ji Ning was at a higher level of insight than him, but it had still taken Ning a full five months before passing through the region of dangerous, distorted spacetime.

  If you made a mistake when passing through a region of distorted spacetime, you could end up within a spacetime fragment and be forever unable to escape! If you were ‘lucky’, you might simply be teleported to an incredibly distant place… which might end up being a death trap.

  This was why the Blazesun Ruler had felt so certain that he was the only person to discover the Blazesun Wellspring Sea. At first, he didn’t even consider the possibility that Ning would be there. It was only after his forces had searched the entire Blazesun Domain to no avail that he had thought of this place and came here to test us luck.

  “Head in that direction,” Ning ordered as he used his Sword Dao domain to chop a spacetime tunnel open for the realmship to pass through.

  “This Wellspring Sea truly was hidden quite well,” Hegemon Azurefiend mumbled to himself.

  “I often visit the Blazesun Domain, but I’ve never even heard of this place,” Patriarch Treewind said.

  They continued to advance through the twisting, changing spacetime continuum. They constantly changed directions as they advanced, and after a full month Ning suddenly called out, “Halt!”

  “Master, we haven’t left yet,” Hegemon Azurefiend said.

  “I’m preparing to train here for a period of time,” Ning said with a smile. “This is currently the safest place in the entire Blazesun Domain.”

  “Huh?” Everyone present looked flabbergasted.

  “The Wellspring Sea is like a boulder which is sitting within many currents of chaotic spacetime,” Ning said. “It doesn’t matter which way we go; we’ll still run into those streams. The Blazesun Ruler is at a lower level of insight than me; even if he came back with four other Domain Rulers, he would still just follow the pathways he is already familiar with. There’s no way he would search and scan all of the possible routes. At his current level, if he dared to do so he’d probably
get lost! My guess is that the reason why he was even able to find the Wellspring Sea was because he had the warship helping him out; otherwise, he would never have been able to find this place.”

  Ning’s guess was correct. The warship was even more tightly attuned to spacetime than ordinary realmships were, and it was primarily thanks to the warship that the Blazesun Ruler had been able to find the Wellspring Sea.

  “They won’t be able to find me as I train here,” Ning said. “Their chances might improve if there are three or four of them, but eventually the other Domain Rulers will have to go back. There’s no way they’ll stay in the Blazesun Domain the entire time.”

  Ning partially wanted a quiet place to train, but he also wanted to be cautious. Battling against the likes of the Blazesun Ruler was truly pointless for him. They were merely at the Hegemonic level of insight; their primary advantage lay in the fact that they were truly blessed with incredible gifts. Ning had only been able to destroy 5% of the Blazesun Ruler’s truesoul with a full-power strike; a battle against a Domain Ruler would literally be nothing more than Ning pitting his truesoul against the Domain Ruler’s in a war of attrition. Ning truly couldn’t be bothered to take part in something like this.

  “Darknorth speaks the truth. It is best to be cautious,” Nuwa agreed.

  “Yes, yes. Let’s spend some more time here.” Su Youji was similarly worried about Ning exhausting too much energy.

  ……

  And so, Ning began to train within a small spacetime pocket located within the chaotic spacetime surrounding the Wellspring Sea. Every day, he was able to hear the whooshing, rumbling sound of the Wellspring Sea. Even Su Youji, who walked the path of the Dao of Fire, began to gain many insights and began to train. Ning himself continued to focus on slowly merging his Dao of Water into his Eternal Omega Sword Dao. After spending a total of 1.2 billion years, he finally completed the process and fully integrated his Dao of Water into his Sword Dao.