Desolate Era

by RWX

  Ning and the others left, and as they did the three humans regained consciousness.

  “What just happened?”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Where’s the vilefiend?” All three of them were completely puzzled. When Ning had rifled through their memories, it hadn’t had a negative impact on them at all. It was like a brief moment of unconsciousness.

  ……

  Archfiend Huabo was the ruler of sixty-three islands, and in truth he was a Daolord of the Fourth Step. In this era and amongst these weak cultivators, he truly was ‘invincible’! But to Ning and his team? A Daolord of the Fourth Step was still extremely weak, so weak that he could be exterminated with just a breath!

  Archfiend Huabo was seated on his royal throne. Below him was a large number of beautiful women who were dancing for him, while at each side of the hall there were many chained beings who were being tortured and tormented.

  He had an extremely strange personality and temperament. He was the undisputed hegemon of these sixty-three islands, and countless living beings had been tortured to death by him. He delighted in torture, in hearing their final screams and cries. This was what made him smile, and was the reason why he was known as the ‘Archfiend’.

  A smile on his face, he watched the beautiful women dance while listening to the viperous curses and blubbering wails of his prisoners.

  “Those fools. All of them ran off to the Sacred Realm, and for what? The Sacred Realm has many powerful experts there; we’d be nothing more than the crust on their boots,” Archfiend Huabo mused. “Staying behind is a much better decision. I’m virtually invincible here and can do whatever I want. Isn’t that wonderful? As for the Daomerge… hmph! Did they really think they would succeed in the Daomerge just because major powers in the Sacred Realm will provide them guidance? I hear that their success rates remain pitifully low.”

  “Staying behind is definitely the better choice, ehehe… tomorrow, I’ll go capture a few more people. The ones in the prison have almost all died out by now.” Archfiend Huabo was in a superb mood. As for the beautiful dancers, all of them were quivering in fear, even if none of them dared to reveal it. They did their best to please the almighty Archfiend, for fear of being tortured to death as well.

  Suddenly, a total of six people walked into the hall. The dance came to a halt, and the smile on Archfiend Huabo’s face suddenly froze. Even the steam coming from the cup of mulled wine by his side froze in midair. Time itself seemed to stop.

  The six figures walking in were Ji Ning, the Paragon of Pills, Azurefiend, Hegemon Tia, Hegemon Flameleft, and Lord Annihilation.

  Ning’s Sword Dao Domain had sealed down spacetime itself, causing time to freeze completely. The dancers and the Archfiend would have no recollection at all of what happened in this moment.

  “Let’s take a look at their memories.” Ning was able to easily rifle through this Daolord’s memories. He finished after a few moments, then fell completely silent.

  “How does it look?” The others all looked at Ning.

  “This is going to be troublesome,” Ning said, then chuckled. “But we knew that from the beginning. Simply put, this Daolord’s memories indicate that this hidden dimension has a total of six ‘realms’ where mortals live, as well as an exalted ‘Sacred Realm’ and an evil, desolate ‘Purgatory’.”

  “Together, the six mortal worlds, the Sacred Realm, and Purgatory form this entire hidden dimension,” Ning said. “At least, that’s what he believes and his memories indicate.”

  “The six mortal realms are all extremely vast and are filled with countless mortals and many cultivators. However, only cultivators who become Samsara Daolords are qualified to enter the Sacred Realm! Of course, there are many Samsara Daolords who choose to stay behind in the six mortal realms instead, but if they DO succeed in the Daomerge and become Eternal Emperors, they are required to enter the Sacred Realm,” Ning said. “If they do not, then major powers shall descend from the Sacred Realm to capture and then punish them.”

  The Paragon of Pills frowned: “It seems as though the ‘Sacred Realm’ is where all the major powers of this hidden dimension are gathered. What of this ‘Purgatory’, then?”

  “The Purgatory is the place where extremely evil people and people who are being punished by the major powers shall be exiled to! That place is both dangerous and desolate,” Ning said. “My guess is that the most important parts of this dimension reside within the ‘Sacred Realm’!”

  The most powerful people present in the six mortal realms were Daolords of the Fourth Step. The Sacred Realm was where the true major powers had gathered, which meant that there was a 99% chance that the core control mechanisms of this hidden dimension were located there as well.

  “Are the countless living beings of this dimension truly Sithe progeny? And what is the history of this place?” Hegemon Flameleft asked.

  “That’s not information a Daolord of the Fourth Step like him would know,” Ning said with a chuckle. “What we need to do is to head into the Sacred Realm!”

  The Sacred Realm… it was undoubtedly filled with many major powers and terrifying Sithe traps. Ning wouldn’t be surprised if it had ten Daoguard Towers within it! Once they headed off to the Sacred Realm, a war would probably break out.

  “How can we get there?” Azurefiend asked.

  “Through the ‘Realmgate’,” Ning said. “However, now is not yet the time. Let’s wait for the Mistress’ three brothers to be revived before we head off to the Realmgate and enter the Sacred Realm.”

  The Paragon of Pills smiled.

  “Let’s go.” Ning glanced at Archfiend Huabo, who was still seated on his throne with a frozen grin on his face, then waved a finger. A streak of sword-light shot out, passing through the Archfiend’s skull and destroying his soul and truesoul. From this day forth, Archfiend Huabo, who had been the hegemon of these sixty-three islands for countless years, died as a result of people who literally came out of nowhere. Even as he died, he had no idea what was happening or who was killing him.

  “M-master… you already looked through his memories. Why’d you kill him?” Azurefiend stared.

  “It was precisely because I looked through his memories that I killed him.” Ning shook his head and muttered, “Absolutely filthy. I really couldn’t help myself.”

  Ning’s group quietly slipped away, leaving behind a palace in a state of chaos.

  * * *

  Book 41, Chapter 16 - Spacetime Reversal Resurrection

  Roughly five months after Ji Ning’s group had first been sent into this hidden dimension, Autarch Skyfeeder brought the avatars of the Paragon of Pills and Lord Annihilation to the otherverse they resided in. It was time to begin the process of reversing spacetime and reviving those three Emperors.

  Lord Annihilation’s otherverse. The Archaeus Region. The Prime Reaches of the Genesis Lands.

  This was a place filled with corpses, all of whom had failed in the struggle over the control of this otherverse.

  The gentle-eyed and slightly plump Autarch Skyfeeder glanced at the various Emperor-class corpses within the Prime Reaches as the avatars of the Paragon and Lord Annihilation stood respectfully to one side.

  “Looks like this was quite a bitter battle,” Autarch Skyfeeder said. “This is an otherverse which I created extremely, extremely early on. I didn’t put it within the Eight Domains, which is why only a few Hegemons took part in this struggle.”

  The Blazesun Domain and the rest of the Eight Domains had so many experts present that the members of most squads were usually at the Hegemonic level. Every so often, you would also see an Otherverse Lord or someone in control of a powerful Sithe weapon. Thus, when two competing teams found an otherverse to fight over, the battle would involve ten or so Hegemons!

  However, the Prime Reaches here only held three Hegemonic corpses, as well as quite a few ordinary Eternal Emperors. It was indeed a bitter battle, but the power of the combatants involved was somewhat lower
than what would be seen in the Eight Domains.

  “Otherverses are incredibly rare outside the Eight Domains,” the avatar of the Paragon of Pills said softly. “The appearance of this otherverse caused everyone to go wild. The four Hegemons who were the first to arrived each brought subordinates and were willing to risk everything for the sake of this otherverse. A great battle broke out, and in the end Hegemon Dustfall was the one who won. My three brothers covered me, letting me escape, but the ones who were left behind were all suppressed and bound by the power of this otherverse, which now had a master. Nothing awaited them save death, and they knew it. Hegemon Dustfall was kind enough to allow each of the Emperors a chance to leave behind a legacy, and he also let their corpses remain intact.”

  An Otherverse Lord who was inside of his otherverse would be dramatically more powerful than when he was outside in the ‘normal’ world. The otherverse was his territory, and the overwhelming power of the otherverse ensured that he himself would also be incredibly strong! This was why the Lonely King instantly became famous after chasing someone into an otherverse, then destroying it.

  As for Hegemons? When directly suppressed by the power of an otherverse, they wouldn’t even be able to move a finger!

  “However, shortly after Dustfall acquired this otherverse, he died while adventuring in a dangerous place. You ended up lucking out, Annihilation.” The Paragon of Pills glanced at Lord Annihilation.

  “It was just a matter of speed, but I admit that my luck wasn’t bad.” Lord Annihilation smiled.

  “I’m going to begin now,” Autarch Skyfeeder said. “Just stand there and watch.”

  “Understood.” The avatars of Lord Annihilation and the Paragon of Pills both nodded respectfully, with a look of excitement appearing in the eyes of the latter.

  Rumble…

  Autarch Skyfeeder stared towards the Sword Hegemon, still leaning against his enormous dark-blue greatsword. Behind him was the white-robed man who had three swords on his back as well as the azure-armored man who had planted nine blood-colored swords into the ground before him. Time quickly began to slow, stop, and then reverse in the area around them.

  Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Countless images went past, including the images of Ning’s arrival within this region. Just a short while later, it had reversed all the way to the earliest and most ancient days of this otherverse. This was when the three had fallen in battle.

  “My beloved friends all died in this battle. There is no way I will pardon you or release you.” In the temporally inverted images before them, they were able to see a valiant old man dressed in silvery-white armor who stood high up on a mountain. “However… I don’t blame you for doing what you did. All of us were trying to take this otherverse. I simply was the one to win. I’ll give you all some time to make your final preparations; make sure you don’t waste this time. I’ll also set down barriers to ensure that your corpses will not be disturbed in the many eons to come.”

  None of the Hegemons or Emperors tried to argue with him. This truly had been a bitter battle with many deaths; it was already quite magnanimous that the victor was giving them time to pass down legacies for themselves.

  “Big brother… second brother… we were so close! I still can’t believe this,” said the azure-armored man who had planted those nine blood-colored swords in the earth before him.

  “It doesn’t matter how close we were. We lost. At least we three brothers will be able to die together.” The white-robed man had a smile on his face. Clearly, he had already accepted his fate.

  “This was all my fault.” The muscular greatsword-bearing Hegemon let out a sigh, but his eyes were quite peaceful as well.

  When the Paragon of Pills saw and heard this, her eyes turned moist. She tightly clenched her hands together, continuing to watch.

  “Freeze!” Autarch Skyfeeder stared at the image before them, causing time to freeze before her. In this frozen moment, the three of them were still alive.

  “Spacetime, reverse. Truesouls, return!” Autarch Skyfeeder turned quite solemn as well. The truesoul fragments of this Hegemon, along with the truesoul fragments of the other two Emperors behind him, had all been swallowed by the prime essences of this otherverse and hidden at its very core. They had become one with the otherverse itself! What she was doing right now was akin to tearing out part of a stone tower’s foundation; if not done correctly, it was quite possible that the tower itself would crumble.

  It was easy to swallow something and digest it, but very hard to drag it back out. Not even Lord Annihilation, the master of this otherverse, would be able to accomplish it.

  Thankfully, Autarch Skyfeeder had been the person who created this otherverse. Even if she did wreck it, she would be able to repair it. Right now, all she needed to do was to keep it stable.

  “Gather!” Autarch Skyfeeder barked out a second time. This time, countless truesoul fragments began to fly out from the deepest part of the Prime Reaches, then levitate into the air. The Prime Reaches was the location where the prime essences of this Otherverse were located.

  Visually, the truesoul fragments looked like tiny little motes of light. These countless little motes of light all flew towards the three standing Emperors. As more light appeared and as spacetime continued to advance, the bodies of the three formerly-illusory figures quickly began to solidify.

  Rumble… the earth throughout the Prime Reaches began to shudder. In fact, the entire massive otherverse began to tremble slightly. Lord Annihilation turned pale as he continued to watch nervously. This was his otherverse; if it collapsed, he would be doomed. But all he could do was look at Autarch Skyfeeder, not daring to make a sound.

  Autarch Skyfeeder herself remained quite calm.

  Big brother! The Paragon of Pills watched this all excitedly.

  The three figures grew increasingly solid as more and more light poured into them, and their auras became increasingly real as well. A hint of light appeared within their eyes, a light which represented life and sentience.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Finally, all three auras completely stabilized, and a look of shock appeared in the eyes of the Hegemon and his two brothers. Alive! They were alive again!

  “Big brother. Second brother. Third brother.” Overwhelmed with excitement, the Paragon of Pills charged straight towards them.

  Autarch Skyfeeder had made use of their three undamaged corpses to bring them fully back to life. If their bodies were gone, she still would’ve been able to revive them, but it would’ve taken more effort; recreating a Hegemonic body was no easy feat, after all.

  “Little sister.” The greatsword-bearing man looked at the Paragon of Pills, then at his two nearby brothers. “Second brother. Third brother.”

  The Paragon of Pills wrapped her arms tightly around the muscular man. She had endured many, many things after her three brothers had died.

  “Little sister.” The muscular man hugged the Paragon of Pills back, a complex look on his face. They weren’t true siblings, they just referred to each other that way as a term of endearment. In truth, they were lovers.

  “Haha, we’ve come back to life! Hahaha, we’ve all come back to life!” The azure-armored man was the most excited of the three.

  “Big brother. Third brother. Little sister,” the white-robed man sent mentally to them, his gaze focused on the distant Autarch Skyfeeder, “It was the Autarch who brought us back to life, right?”

  He was the calmest of the three who had just been brought back to life. The Paragon of Pills quickly came back to her senses. She hurriedly turned and bowed gratefully towards Autarch Skyfeeder, “Thank you, Autarch, for saving my three brothers.”

  “Thank you, Autarch, for saving our lives,” the Hegemon and his two Emperors said.

  “Impressive. You were actually able to convince an Autarch to come rescue the three of us… and it looks as though you yourself have become a Hegemon, little sister,” the azure-armored man sent mentally.

  Autarch Skyfeeder said with a calm
smile on her face, “I came at Darknorth’s request. Of course I took it seriously! Alright, now that this matter is finished, it is time for me to go.”

  “Safe travels, Autarch.” Lord Annihilation let out a sigh of relief. Autarchs truly were impressive; his otherverse had been barely affected by this process.

  “Safe travels, Autarch.” The Paragon of Pills and the others all bowed respectfully once more. Autarch Skyfeeder took a single step, then disappeared into the void.

  “Haha, congratulations, my friends!” Lord Annihilation smiled as he bowed towards the three brothers. “I imagine there are many things the Paragon of Pills wishes to talk to you about. I won’t bother you any further. When you are free, you must come and be my guests at the Church of Annihilation.” Lord Annihilation’s avatar then took a step away, disappearing into the void as well.

  “Little sister, you truly are incredible.” The azure-armored man was still extremely excited.

  As for the muscular man, he continued to hold the Paragon of Pills’ hand in an affectionate display of love.

  “Little sister, the Autarch said that she came on the request of ‘Darknorth’? Who is this ‘Darknorth’? He must be a major power. Is he an Autarch as well?” the white-robed man asked.

  “Right. Based on what I know, it is almost impossible to convince an Autarch to help revive a Hegemon.” The muscular man couldn’t help but ask as well: “Who exactly is this ‘Darknorth’ fellow? He was able to have an Autarch carry out tasks for him… and apparently, didn’t even come in person?”

  * * *

  Book 41, Chapter 17 - Assaulting the Realmgate

  If you were going to ask someone to help you out with something, you would at least show up yourself, right? This was doubly true when you were asking an Autarch to help out. How much face were the Autarchs giving this ‘Darknorth’ fellow, for them to show up even when he himself did not?

  “Haha.” The Paragon of Pills laughed. “Darknorth is a Daolord, a Daolord who has failed the Daomerge… but he is extremely close to the Autarchs in actual power.”