Desolate Era

by RWX

  “No need. I’m quite skilled in both spacetime and formations. I’m better suited for dealing with this type of formation than anyone else,” Ning sent back. “Don’t worry too much. I’m about to start meditating on how to deconstruct this formation. I’m just giving you all a head’s up! For both myself and Ekong to be trapped in short succession means that the Sithe have probably prepared squads of Exalts for all of us. Don’t let yourselves be trapped as well.”

  “Alright.” The other six Autarchs all felt a sense of pressure. Ekong had been trapped in a temple commanded by seven Exalts, while Darknorth had been trapped by a grayish-white temple controlled by eight. The Sithe most assuredly had more Exalts under their command than simply fifteen!

  Book 44, Chapter 10 - Eighty-Two Days

  “Starting today… Skyfeeder, Mogg, Bolin, and Stonerule, the five of us must cease using our true bodies to hunt down Sithe warships,” Autarch Titanos sent to the others. “The cultivators across the various battlefronts are no longer under too much pressure. That means the hunt for Sithe Hegemons is no longer as pressing as it was previously! Let’s simply have our avatars engage in the hunt. Let’s not send our true bodies.”

  “Right. Leave our true bodies in safety. Darknorth and Ekong have both been trapped; if two or three more of us are trapped, we might end up losing this war,” Autarch Skyfeeder sent back.

  “Darknorth, be careful,” Mogg said.

  “Solve it and escape as soon as you can. Too much time can result in new variables being introduced,” Autarch Bolin said.

  Everyone understood that the longer one was trapped for, the more dangerous it would be. Even if Ning was able to temporarily survive the grayish-white temple thanks to his formidable abilities, it was just a matter of time before the Sithe sent even more reinforcements to attack him! Thus, the more time they wasted the uglier the situation would become. He had to escape as quickly as possible.

  “If there’s anything you need us to do, just ask,” Autarch Skyfeeder said. “Of the seven of us, your life matters more than anyone else’s.”

  “I understand.” Ning also understood that his fate no longer belonged to him alone; his death would have an impact on their entire Chaosverse and all the cultivators within it.

  The white-robed Ning stared at the countless spacetime bubbles and the formation they had been arranged into. Spacetime continuously changed around him, and Ning simply watched while under the effects of 100x temporal acceleration. His every thought was focused on understanding how this grand spacetime formation actually worked.

  ……

  Riiiiip. A spacetime rift suddenly appeared deep within the Great Dark, followed by a tall, gray-robed, barefoot man walking into it. His eyes were warm and gentle, seemingly filled with love towards all living beings.

  “Hmph.” Iyerre stared into the void, letting out a slight snort as he frowned. A strange type of energy was circling around his body, preventing all forms of karma from touching him! This was the reason why no one from the local cultivator civilizations had ever been able to discover his existence, despite the passage of countless aeons. Given Iyerre’s power, if the prime essences of the Chaosverse were able to sense him it would’ve immediately ranked him as the most terrifying threat in all of existence and have warned the Autarchs long ago.

  “Ugh. I can’t use even a sliver of the power of the Dao, and I’m constantly being suppressed. Even my travelling speed is slowed to a crawl,” Iyerre murmured anxiously to himself. Given his power, back in his own Chaosverse he was able to travel more than a hundred times faster than right now. Even in the Infinite Void, he travelled much faster than he did right now. In this Chaosverse, however, he was being constantly suppressed to the point where he moved roughly as fast as the native Autarchs.

  “It will take me eighty-two days to reach the place where we’ve trapped Emperor Darknorth.” Cold light flashed through Iyerre’s warm eyes. “I hope nothing happens during this period of time. We’ve used the ‘Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple’ to trap Emperor Darknorth. He shouldn’t be able to escape in such a short period of time.”

  He had been waiting back in the heart of the Sithelands, which was very far away from the place Ning was trapped. And yet, he would still be able to reach Ning in just a bit over two months, despite being unable to use any of the power of the Dao and being suppressed by this Chaosverse. This was a testament to how truly formidable he was!

  “Emperor Darknorth is the only variable which is outside my control. If I can get rid of him, the six remaining Autarchs will pose no danger.” Iyerre felt a tinge of worry. “He’s the most unpredictable variable, and he’s definitely in the highest of favor with the local Quintessence. The entire Chaosverse will concentrate virtually all of its luck onto him! This is what allows him to create one miracle after another… but in the end, going from being an Omega Emperor to being an Omega Autarch will still be incredibly difficult. Luck and favor alone will not be enough.”

  In the end, karmic luck was just a form of external aid. It could be ridiculously helpful to ordinary mortals, allowing them (for example) to easily acquire various treasures which could allow them to become Immortals and understand the Dao. For Autarchs, however, luck was much less useful.

  Autarch Titanos and the others didn’t care too much about karmic luck either. It was almost impossible for them to improve any further, no matter how lucky they were! Ning, however, was the only person in this entire Chaosverse who stood a chance of becoming an Omega Autarch. He would definitely be blessed with tremendous luck, but luck alone wouldn’t be enough to produce an Omega Autarch. It wasn’t even enough to allow him to come up with a technique like the ‘Truesoul Everlasting’; such a thing required many other factors, including personal insights and tremendous hard work!

  Generally speaking, the more powerful you became the better your karmic luck would also become. When Ning had been reborn via the Netherworld Kingdom, he had been an unremarkable little fellow in the vast chaosworld that was the Three Realms. It was only once he grew stronger that his luck truly improved. Iyerre, in contrast, wished to suppress the entire Chaosverse and then bind it to him. To an expert like him, only personal strength was worth putting your faith in.

  “He might be a variable, but he still has far less than even a 10% chance of breaking through to becoming an Omega Autarch. I still stand a very good chance of winning this war. Eighty-two days… so long as they can hold him for eighty-two days, I’ll be able to make it in time and get rid of Emperor Darknorth.” Iyerre had an ironclad will, but he still couldn’t help but feel a bit of anxiousness. He knew that whether or not he was able to kill Emperor Darknorth was one of the biggest factors in determining if he could gain control over this Chaosverse or not.

  Riiiip. He continued to tear through spacetime, warping at Autarch-like speeds towards Ning’s location.

  ……

  Within the Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple. Ever since Ning had been trapped here, he had spent all of his time analyzing the complicated formation around him. He had no idea that a terrifying figure like Iyerre was heading towards him, but he did know the more time he wasted, the more dangerous the situation would become.

  On the fifth day of Ning’s imprisonment. Autarch Titanos and Autarch Ekong managed to break free of the hallway formation trapping them… but then, a new danger appeared before them.

  On the ninth day of Ning’s imprisonment. The two Autarchs very nearly escaped, but all of a sudden the most terrifying danger of all descended upon them.

  On the tenth day of Ning’s imprisonment. Autarch Titanos’ avatar was forced to use his own life to block the dangerous attack crashing towards them, resulting in him dying in battle! However, this allowed Autarch Ekong to escape unharmed. He was heavily wounded, but at least he managed to stay alive.

  “I could feel death breathing down my neck. I could literally feel death’s icy grasp reaching for me! It was all thanks to you, Titanos. Otherwise, there’s no way I wo
uld’ve been able to escape. Even if I did escape the first hallway, the second trap would’ve done me in.” Autarch Ekong was extremely grateful. “I’m ashamed of having caused you to sacrifice an avatar.”

  “It’s fine. I can make another one! For you to have escaped counts as a win in my book. Besides, it was my fault for being unable to fully divine all the dangers of that place,” Titanos said.

  “Haha! Ekong, Titanos just saved your life. After this war is over, you need to offer him some of that fine wine you’ve been stockpiling.”

  “No problem whatsoever,” Ekong agreed straightforwardly.

  Ekong’s escape was something for the cultivators to celebrate. Of course, Titanos had to recreate an avatar, which would start off at 50% of his power at most. This avatar would now be the weakest of their Autarch-class combatants, which would have a negative impact on their total combat prowess, but it was still a much, much better outcome than Autarch Ekong dying.

  Now, the only one trapped was Ning himself. Titanos, Skyfeeder, Mogg, and Bolin all offered advice and strategies based on what Ning had told them, and they also tried to help come up with ideas for solving the formation. Alas, they weren’t able to see the formation in person and so they could do nothing more than give general advice.

  ……

  On the nineteenth day of Ning’s imprisonment. Ning was still unable to escape, but something else happened. Autarch Bolin’s avatar was also assaulted by a squad of Sithe Exalts. He had been very cautious, but he still ended up trapped within an evil black temple.

  “The Sithe really do have more squads of Exalts roving around. Damn.” Autarch Ekong was furious.

  “Thankfully, only his avatar has been trapped there. If Bolin’s real body was trapped, we’d be in much more trouble,” Titanos said. “Bolin, hurry up and try to solve the formation and escape as soon as possible. Even if you can’t escape, the sooner your avatar dies the sooner you can start working on a new one and making it stronger. Every extra day counts. Of course, I hope you can escape intact. That avatar is an Autarch-class combatant, after all.”

  If they were continuously weakened like this, they might end up being defeated in the final battle. Small losses of strength could have a major impact on the outcome of the war.

  “Darknorth, you be careful as well. Staying alive matters more than anything else,” Titanos said.

  “Darknorth, my avatar’s remained fairly close to you this entire time. It can probably reach you in around ten days or so. If you ever need my help, just let me know,” Autarch Mogg sent. “Your life is extremely important to us. If I can sacrifice an avatar to keep you alive, that’s a worthwhile trade.”

  “No need. I’m still analyzing the formation trapping me. You coming in wouldn’t really help me much. If I ever do need you, I’ll let you know.” Ning felt quite grateful for the offer, but he knew that Autarch Mogg coming wouldn’t make any difference.

  Book 44, Chapter 11 - Breaching Spacetime, Succumbing to Eight Revolutions

  Within the Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple.

  The Sithe Exalts remained seated on the eight stone pillars ringing the outer perimeter of the temple. They were closely watching all of Ji Ning’s actions within the formation, not daring to be the slightest bit negligent. Thanks to their control over the formation they were able to scry and see Ning’s white-robed figured seated in the lotus position, surrounded by countless divine runes of incomparable complexity.

  “He’s skilled in formations, illusions, spacetime…” A Sithe Exalt sighed in amazement. “Only an Omega Emperor could be skilled in so many aspects!”

  As Sithe Exalts, they had the same level of insight as the native Autarchs of this Chaosverse. Thus, they were able to tell from the runes surrounding Ning that the man had reached incredible heights in both formations and spacetime.

  “Emperor Darknorth lives up to his reputation. Still… it isn’t likely that he’ll be able to solve this formation in just eighty-two short days. Twenty days have already gone past.”

  “Perhaps the spacetime formation alone will be enough to trap him.”

  The Sithe Exalts were conversing mentally with each other. They knew just how important Emperor Darknorth was to the war. He was most likely the greatest obstacle to almighty Iyerre taking control over this Chaosverse! This was why Iyerre was hastening towards them at top speed. If they managed to successfully keep Emperor Darknorth trapped for eighty-two days, they would have carried out their primary mission. Once Iyerre became the Lord of Chaos for this Chaosverse, he would definitely give them great rewards.

  Time continued to flow on, one day after another. The spacetime formation was indeed quite complicated, but on the thirtieth day of Ning’s imprisonment, an explosion suddenly erupted forth from within the formation, followed by the faces of the eight Sithe Exalts turning grim.

  The white-robed Ning had risen to his feet. He had assumed his three-headed, six-armed form and was using his six Northbow swords to furiously assault the spacetime formation around him.

  He seemed to be randomly hacking to the right and to the left, but somehow his ‘random’ hacks managed to disrupt the functioning of the entire formation. He had located and broken through some of the energy nexus points, causing the power of the formation to drop dramatically.

  “He’s discovered the secrets behind our spacetime formation. The formation is going to break. It won’t hold much longer!” The eight Sithe Exalts were shocked by Ning’s speed.

  Boom! The spacetime formation finally collapsed, followed by those countless miniature spacetime bubbles popping and dissipating.

  After thirty full days, he had finally defeated the spacetime formation.

  “Incredible. Simply incredible.” A black-haired Sithe Exalt sighed in amazement. “He was able to breach the formation in just thirty days. If I was trapped there, I probably wouldn’t be able to get out even if I spent a hundred chaos cycles trying.”

  “You aren’t skilled in formations. You’d stand no chance whatsoever.”

  “He really is impressive.”

  “Thirty days have gone past. Only fifty-two days are left. The ‘eight revolutions formation’ should be able to trap him for fifty-two days, right?” a Sithe Exalt with golden fur covering his face said.

  “The Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple’s strongest trap-type formation is the ‘eight revolutions formation’; the spacetime formation isn’t quite as strong. When I tested the spacetime formation out, I was able to get an overall sense of what I needed to do and could calmly meditate on it, but when I tested out the eight revolutions formation I just felt completely baffled and lost,” a female Sithe Exalt said. “If it took him thirty days for just the spacetime formation, the eight revolutions formation will probably take him over three years.”

  “There’s no way he’s getting out of there.”

  “Check out that stupid look on his face.”

  “Haha, he wants to break through via raw force? What a joke!” The Sithe Exalts all began to laugh when they saw what Ning was doing. They knew just how powerful their ‘eight revolutions formation’ was.

  ……

  Boom! Ning had just broken through the vast spacetime formation. Now, he surveyed his new surroundings with a frown. He was within a sealed dimension of raw fire. The flames filled every inch of this dimension, but they were pushed aside before even getting close to Ning.

  “A sealed dimension?” Ning had no idea that he had now entered the most dangerous and most difficult part of the Eight Revolutions Spacetime Temple… the eight revolutions formation! This would be his greatest obstacle to escaping the temple. If he managed to break through this, the temple wouldn’t have much else left.

  “I should be able to just tear through dimensional membranes via raw force.” Ning didn’t hesitate at all, immediately using the technique which Autarchs favored the most – raw force!

  Boom! Ning shot upwards while manifesting three heads and six arms. His six Northbow swords furio
usly chopped against the dimensional membrane, with each strike empowered by the mysteries of the Space Sword Dao. Ning unleashed several hundred chops just the blink of an eye!

  When Ning had been trapped within that ‘hidden’ dimension, Autarch Mogg and Autarch Titanos had used the same principle to break through the dimensional membrane – raw force! This was because, unlike the Sithe, they had nigh-limitless amounts of energy here in their own Chaosverse. There was no worry about running out, whereas the Sithe had to consider how much energy they had available when planning their killer attacks.

  Thus, using raw force to overpower a formation was actually a highly effective technique, even though it seemed rather brutish and clumsy!

  “It seems like it is breaking.” Ning could see that the dimensional membrane was shuddering in the face of his frenzied attacks.

  In the spacetime maze, Ning had tried to furiously assault the spacetime bubbles in this manner as well. However, all of the spacetime bubbles he destroyed would release their energies to the local spacetime field, which would then give birth to new bubbles. As a result, the actual energy of the formation wasn’t depleted in the slightest. Raw force was useless against a tactic like this, unless he reached a level where he was so strong he could tear apart the entire formation with just one strike of the sword.

  Dimensional membranes, however, were different. They had to endure the weight of Ning’s strikes head on, and each time that happened they would be depleted of energy. Eventually, they would be so weak that they would simply collapse!

  Boom! After the time needed to boil a kettle of tea, one of Ning’s strikes finally tore open a giant wound that was roughly three hundred meters in size. Through the tear in the dimensional membrane, Ning was able to see… a vast world of water outside.

  “Eh?” Ning turned to stare at the world of fire he was currently in, then back at the world of water on the opposite side of the dimensional membrane. The rift in the membrane was already beginning to quickly heal.