Desolate Era

by RWX

  To become an Autarch, one needed a perfect Dao-heart. The same was needed to master an Eternal Omega Dao.

  “He’ll probably die here.” Exalt Bowenya let out a sigh. Once the power of the Flameland Elder Hall was used up, it would no longer pose a threat to Daolord Darknorth at all, who would be able to capture Hawkfang with ease. Not even Exalt Bowenya would dare to battle Ning head-on without the backing of his Daoguard Tower.

  ……

  Within the Sword Dao Domain. A glowing castle that was merely thirty meters long was stationed here, with Ning and Azurefiend’s avatar located within it. Azurefiend’s avatar was pouring Immortal energy into the castle, keeping it active. As for Ning, he was seated off to one side in front of a table that had a flask of wine and a wine cup on it. Every so often, he would lift up the wine cup and take a sip.

  He only needed to spare a bit of attention to maintaining the illusions within the Sword Dao Doman, making the illusory Ning’s performance more convincing! The single-target attacks were powerful and concentrated, with the ones shooting out from this Exalt-class Daoguard Tower being close to Autarch-level attacks in might. However, they all hit the illusory Ning without harming the real one in the slightest.

  As for the large-scale attacks, they dispersed their might across an extremely wide area, making it fairly easy to defend against them. However, Ning wasn’t willing to do so and instead took out a Sithe treasure.

  It must be remembered that Ning had captured over 2,800 Hegemons and Emperors during the previous battle! They had carried many types of treasures on them, and it could be said that they collectively held roughly over 80% of the total Sithe treasures within this hidden dimension. Now, those treasures were all Ning’s! There were actually over ten items that were on the level of the Blacksun. Ning had pulled out one of them and allowed Azurefiend’s avatar to bind it, then used it to defend against the attacks.

  Ning had selected this castle for its sturdiness and defensive strength. It was able to defend against the large-scale attacks that struck it with ease. This castle was on the same level as the Blacksun, and it was specialized in defense. Attacks like this, merely on par with the Blazesun Ruler, were completely unable to breach its thick walls. The only thing they did was to consume Azurefiend’s power.

  “Withdraw.” Ning watched the battle proceed while causing his Sword Dao Domain to rapidly retreat and disperse.

  “Master, why are you having us retreat?” Azurefiend’s avatar asked. “These Sithe have extremely powerful attacks, but the wide-scale ones are all being blocked by the castle. Why should we withdraw?”

  “That’s where you are wrong.” Ning laughed. “Warfare isn’t as simple as attacking and defending. You need to see beyond the clashes to the nature of the battle itself. There’s no need for us to do too much in this battle against the Flameland Elder Hall. Given enough time, they will run out of energy and we will have won.”

  Ning’s gaze went through the walls of the castle, allowing him to see the Flameland Elder Hall which continued to pursue and assault them. “Once they broke free from their foundations, they no longer had any chance to retreat. Their only option was to unleash all the power available to them in a final, desperate assault,” Ning explained. “So… why should we actually fight them? I’ll just keep running, while they will keep chasing. It actually takes this Daoguard Tower energy to fly through the air as well.”

  There was another unspoken reason why Ning had them continuously retreat. This was because he wanted to stay as far away from the other two Elder Halls as possible! That way, once he captured all the Hegemons and Emperors in the Flameland Elder Hall, he would be able to review their memories without being disturbed. If he was too close to the other two Elder Halls, they’d probably launch attacks at him and disrupt him. If he stayed farther away, it would be harder for them to bother him.

  ……

  Explosions of ruinous power continued to ring out unabated, with Ning continuing to fight while fleeing. Every so often, a streak of Autarch-level golden light would shoot out, tearing through the earth and gouging unfathomably deep tunnels in the ground. As for the wide-scale attacks that covered as much as ten billion kilometers, they would terrify even most Hegemons.

  Any other cultivator would’ve perished long ago from a battle like this. Only the Autarchs and Ning were equipped to handle it.

  “The Flameland Elder Hall has nearly been utterly exhausted of all its power. It only has enough to keep flying.” Hawkfang gritted his teeth after saying these words. His voice echoed throughout the entire Elder Hall, with every single Emperor and Hegemon inside hearing them. “We have lost this battle. The only thing we have left is a final charge.”

  Hawkfang felt pain and sorrow in his heart, because he knew that this final charge would result in his comrades throwing their lives away. The cultivators… the Sithe… Hawkfang wasn’t sure who he truly belonged to, but he knew that the people he cared the most about were his comrades, the other Sithe descendants. And yet, his care alone wouldn’t be of any use. He couldn’t disobey Exalt Bowenya’s orders. Every single Hegemon and Emperor had long ago sworn oaths to obey Exalt Bowenya.

  “The final charge.”

  “Attack! Even as we die, let’s use up more of Daolord Darknorth’s power. Exhaust him!”

  “Kill him, and we’ll bring hope to our homeland. Once we die, it’ll all be for nothing.”

  “Kill!”

  “Hawkfang, you stay back. So long as you are alive, the others will still have a leader!” The Hegemons and Emperors began to charge out of the Flameland Elder Hall, moving like streaks of light towards Ning as they tried to dissuade Hawkfang from joining the battle.

  * * *

  Book 42, Chapter 11 - A Wonderful Surprise

  Streaks of light flew out from the Flameland Elder Hall. The Sithe descendants were absolutely fearless, and they charged out with a mixture of both frenzy and despair.

  Hawkfang silently watched from afar. He suddenly had the feeling that those streaks of light were utterly beautiful… yet at the same time, they stabbed against his heart like daggers. In truth, the torment he had felt in his heart over the course of many aeons had been utterly excruciating. This was why he had never been able to perfect his Dao-heart!

  “Death is a form of release. My friends… if all of you die, what would be the point of me surviving by myself? To continue being a disposable pawn to the Sithe?” A calm look appeared in Hawkfang’s eyes, and he began to release the two monsters trapped within the Flameland Elder Hall. Clack clack clack clack… the prison cells located within the deepest depths of the Elder Hall began to swing open, awakening two mighty creatures that had existed since antiquity.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. The entire Flameland Elder Hall began to shake. After awakening, the two strange creatures instantly entered a berserk state. It was extremely hard to control these creatures, but somewhat easier to drive them so berserk that they would attack all foes before them.

  The Sithe generally treated these creatures as their final trump cards. The creatures were sent out to fight only when the Sithe were on their last legs.

  “They’ve all gone.” Hawkfang watched those hundreds of streaks of light shot from the Flameland Elder Hall towards the distant region covered by the Sword Dao Domain… but those who entered it disappeared without a trace.

  “I’ll go as well.” Hawkfang could sense those two creatures beginning to awaken and cause destruction. The power within his Daoguard Tower had finally been used up. Without any energy to power its artifacts and formations, the Daoguard Tower was completely incapable of restraining these two mighty beasts any further. The two were beginning to tear it apart… and in truth, Hawkfang didn’t care.

  He had already committed himself irrevocably to this path once he had split the Elder Hall away from its foundation. Even if the depleted tower wasn’t destroyed, it would be of little use; at most, he could detach a few weapons and use them.

  “Attack!” Hawkfan
g shot out like a streak of light, charging with determination towards the distant Ning. He was the last of the Hegemons and Emperors in his group to attack.

  ……

  Exalt Bowenya and Jonnbech all watched as those hundreds of streaks of light shot out towards Daolord Darknorth, followed by the final streak of light which represented Hawkfang. Both of them were silent.

  As for Ning, he was absolutely delighted. He had long ago put away his castle and was actively manipulating his Sword Dao Domain instead. He flew through the air, moving towards those attacking Emperors as his domain moved with him as well. As soon as the Emperors entered his reach, they were trapped by illusions and captured with ease.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The Hegemons and Emperors continued to launch frenzied attacks, but none of them landed on Ning at all. At most, Ning would have to exert a tiny bit of power to use evasion-arts to dodge. And so… all of the Hegemons and Emperors, Hawkfang included, were captured in one fell swoop. He drew all of them into his estate-world.

  “Now that is that?” Just as Ning was feeling quite satisfied with himself and preparing to review the memories of these Hegemons, he suddenly turned to stare at the crumbling Flameland Elder Hall with a slightly tense look on his face.

  BOOM! A giant hole appeared in the side of the Flameland Elder Hall, followed by a creature that looked like a giant fish flying out of the opening. The giant fish quickly expanded in size when it flew out, expanding to become thirty thousand kilometers long. It had long whiskers around its mouth, and those whiskers were all ten thousand kilometers as well. It also had a total of eighteen sets of claws located alongside its flank. As for its tail, the tip of its tail was connected to a series of slender threads which chopped through space with terrifying power as they swished back and forth.

  “What an incredible beast.” Ning felt a sense of threat. “I have the feeling that it is even tougher to deal with than the last beast I encountered.”

  Squish. Squish. Squish. Right at this moment, another strange creature that looked something like an earthworm began to slowly ooze its way out of the main gates of the Flameland Elder Hall. The creature emanated a halo of golden light, and when Ning saw it he immediately had the feeling that its body was incredibly tough. Even if Ning chopped it into ten pieces, it probably still wouldn’t die. Killing it would be no easy task.

  “I need to find their essence cores before I can kill them,” Ning mused. “But both are extremely hard to deal with. It’ll probably take me ten or twenty strikes to kill them… but why should I have to?”

  Ning exert his will as he landed upon the ground beneath him. He had already flown out of the Sacred Mountains and into an empty plains, and when he landed on the plains he exerted the power of his Illusion Sword Dao, vanishing without a trace. He was using his illusions to blend into his surroundings, completely masking his aura and revealing no traces of his presence at all.

  “Kill… kill… kill…” These two creatures came from outside the Chaosverse, and they were born with incredibly powerful bodies. Their eyes were filled with savagery as they scanned the area, searching for living beings to kill. And yet… after doing so, they ended up turning and charging towards the two remaining Elder Halls instead! Both of those Elder Halls were easily locatable, and they could sense that both held living beings within them.

  “Damn! It really was all an illusion. Daolord Darknorth’s illusions are truly…” Exalt Bowenya turned pale when he saw this. These were clearly HIS beasts, but upon being unable to find Ning they chose to charge towards him instead!

  They had captured these beasts and driven them berserk. For these beasts to now attack them was a form of karma.

  Boom! Squish! The two creatures parted ways, separating as they moved towards the two Elder Halls. They began to launch a frenzied barrage of attacks upon their respective Elder Halls. Their mighty bodies contained an even more massive amount of energy than Flamewing! It gave them all the power they needed to furiously assault the towers to give vent to their hate. They even opened their giant mouths to bite down at the towers… but the two Elder Halls would not be so easily shaken by the likes of them!

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The two Elder Halls began to counter-attack with near-Autarch levels of might. The attacks left gaping wounds on the bodies of the two creatures. The earthworm creature was able to endure nearly a hundred blows before finally being blasted apart, at which point its essence core was destroyed and it perished. As for the giant fish, when it was on the verge of dying it actually came back to its senses and bored into the earth to flee.

  “It regained its mind?” Exalt Bowenya was quite shocked. “We had driven it completely insane, but it somehow managed to come back to its senses. Near-death experiences truly can give birth to miracles.”

  He didn’t worry about that giant fish-creature too much, because the Sacred Realm was so stable that there was no way the creature would be able to break free and escape from it. After he dealt with the biggest problem, ‘Daolord Darknorth’, he would have plenty of time to handle the fish and recapture it.

  “Daolord Darknorth.” Exalt Bowenya stared off into the distance, his gaze focused upon the plains where Ning had vanished. Daolord Darknorth was a thousand times more dangerous than that giant fish!

  ……

  Ning had hidden himself via his power over illusions. And upon doing so he had immediately summoned Hawkfang.

  Hawkfang had been someone whom the Sithe had held great hopes for. He had a chance of becoming an Autarch, and was the son of a Sithe Exalt. Ning had searched the memories of over 2,800 Sithe Emperors to no avail. By now, he felt certain that his chances of finding those nine techniques in the memories of ordinary Emperors were extremely slim. Hawkfang, however, was special. Perhaps he might have something.

  Whoosh. The black-robed Hawkfang appeared before Ning. His gaze was calm, and he even smiled slightly when he saw Ning appear before him. “Daolord Darknorth.”

  Ning didn’t say anything, immediately drawing Hawkfang into an illusion. He was afraid that Hawkfang would try to commit suicide in the hopes of killing him. If that happened, Ning wouldn’t have a chance to search his memories. They would have plenty of time to chat later. The nine techniques, however, were absolutely critical to him and his hopes of proceeding further along the path of cultivation. He wouldn’t take any risks with that.

  “This is certainly a great deal of memories.” Ning began to review Hawkfang’s memories. Hawkfang’s Dao-heart was flawed, and so he wasn’t able to resist Ning’s illusions.

  Ning couldn’t help but sigh as he flipped through Hawkfang’s memories. Hawkfang was a rather tragic figure. If he had been born amongst the cultivators, he probably would’ve already become an Autarch.

  “What?! He also swore a lifeblood oath not to transmit the nine techniques to anyone?” Ning felt rather speechless when he saw the thought-bubbles surrounding those nine techniques. He had expected this, but he had still been hoping that Hawkfang would be different. In truth, however… every single Sithe given access to these techniques had been forced to swear lifeblood oaths. Hawkfang was no exception.

  “Ugh.” Ning felt rather disappointed after being unable to access the nine techniques, but he continued to flip through Hawkfang’s other memories.

  Time slowly flowed on. Two hours. Four hours…

  “What’s this?” Ning’s eyes slowly began to light up as he began to flip through the memories faster and faster. The more he saw, the more excited he became… and towards the end, he was so excited that his entire body was quivering.

  “The [Five Truncheon Chapters]!”

  * * *

  Book 42, Chapter 12 - The [Five Truncheon Chapters]

  “Now this is an unexpected surprise!” Due to his repeated failures, Ji Ning was already at the verge of abandoning all hope of finding the nine special techniques. He was simply rifling through the rest of Hawkfang’s memories out of a sense of caution. Who would’ve thought that such an unexpected surpris
e would pop out!

  Hawkfang was the creator of the [Five Truncheon Chapters]. He truly was a genius!

  After Hawkfang’s father had accompanied the Sithe army in their first invasion of the Chaosverse, he began to live here within this hidden dimension. Later on, the supreme Sithe leaders sent orders for the Sithe to begin to propagate within this land. As for Hawkfang’s father, he was an Exalt, but the one and only child he had upon reaching this level was Hawkfang. He began to put all of his efforts into rearing his son.

  Hawkfang was incredibly talented in every respect, and he skyrocketed in power with no pause at all! However… he was still just a Sithe descendant. The true Sithe couldn’t help but feel a sense of caution towards these descendants, and so they weren’t willing to pass down any information or guidance regarding Omega Daos! If one of their children managed to reach Autarchy via an Omega Dao, it would be their children who would become the rulers of this Chaosverse… which meant that it would still be suited for the current cultivators, not the Sithe.

  The Sithe descendants were much like the local cultivators, after all. They were born and bred under the current conditions.

  In addition, if someone reached Autarchy via an Omega Dao, not even a lifeblood oath would be able to restrain or affect him. The Sithe were afraid that they would no longer be able to control such a person, and so they didn’t pass down any Omega daos.

  Hawkfang was incredibly talented. Guided by the Sithe away from the Omega Daos, he succeeded in the Daomerge and became a mere Hegemon.

  In truth, this was perhaps a lucky thing for Hawkfang. Ning didn’t have any guidance as he walked the path of the Omega Sword Dao, but the difficulty of the Daomerge resulted in him failing at it.

  Becoming a Hegemon… it was hard to say if it was a ‘good’ thing or a ‘bad’ thing for Hawkfang. After becoming a Hegemon, he had quickly reached Hegemony in five other Daos. His speed of advancement was so shockingly fast that it had amazed the entire Sithe race! Even the highest ranking members of the Sithe paid close attention to him.