The Desolate Era

Time flowed on one day at a time.

“How long is Daolord Darknorth going to be training for?” Patriarch Treewind stared at the wellspring of fire at the very center of that giant flaming sea. There was an absolutely enormous vortex there, and at the center of the vortex there was a white-robed figure seated in the lotus position a few hundred meters deep.

“As I see it,” Imperator Jade Rainbow sent mentally, “Given that Daolord Darknorth has failed the Daomerge and has a limited lifespan, what’s the point of training? By now, he’s probably second to only the Autarchs themselves in power. If I was Daolord Darknorth, I’d spend the rest of my days wandering about and visiting all of those places of legend. I’d especially want to visit the legendary Sithelands. I’d definitely wander through that entire place. After doing so, I would be able to die contentedly.”

“Hmph. That’s why you aren’t Daolord Darknorth,” Patriarch Treewind snickered.

Imperator Jade Rainbow was startled by this comment, but moments later he nodded in agreement: “That’s true. He’s already failed his Daomerge, but he’s still intoxicated by cultivation... no wonder he was able to reach such heights.”

“Woohoo! Master, this place is awesome! C’mon, let’s have fun together!” The Flamewing God was happily rolling around in the sea of fire. Every so often, it would swim over to Ning, but when it saw how Ning was still meditating silently it didn’t dare to actually disturb Ning. Instead, it turned to wander through the other parts of the great sea.

Azurefiend, Hegemon Goodsong, Nuwa, Su Youji, and the others all watched this marvelous scene from afar.

“Such an awesome amount of power. If someone was able to take full control over it, most likely not even an Autarch would be able to withstand him,” Hegemon Goodsong said with a sigh.

“There’s no way it can be controlled. That’s the natural energy of the Chaosverse itself,” Su Youji said.

“Darknorth truly is formidable,” Nuwa praised. “He’s able to force the ‘water’ of the flaming sea to a distance of three hundred meters, just by using his Sword Dao domain.”

“But three hundred meters is nothing,” Azurefiend said, “Nothing more than a tiny little part of the entire flaming sea.”

......

They also benefited from their observations, but only Ning was at a high enough level of insight that he could understand the functioning and the mysteries of this place, the wellspring of the Blazesun Domain. Thanks to this place, it had taken him merely two days to improve his mastery of the Dao of Water to the Hegemonic level.

“The Dao of Water has now been infused into my Sword Dao. So this is the result...” As Ning slowly gained a greater level of understanding, his Sword Dao had become even vaster.

If a Dao was to be described in physical size, then Ning’s Eternal Omega Sword Dao had already reached an incredible height, the same height which an Autarch’s Daobirth was at, but it was even purer. Ning’s Dao was comparable to an Autarch’s Dao. The only problem was, it was a bit inferior in terms of its ‘breadth’! Autarchs had to upgrade multiple Daos to the Hegemonic level in order to reach Autarchy; in comparison, Ning was lacking in this regard.

Now, Ning was slowly infusing his Dao of Water into his Eternal Omega Sword Dao, causing its ‘breadth’ to slowly improve as well. Although its raw attack power didn’t increase by that much, it did change in certain other areas! For example, Ning’s Dao of the Sword was now as gentle as water, making it softer and more elastic when defending. Most important of all, after Ning infused the Dao of Water into his Eternal Omega Sword Dao, his Dao was even gentler in nurturing his soul and truesoul, causing the disintegration process to slow down by quite a bit.

“I understand now. As I slowly infuse more and more Daos into my Sword Dao, it’ll change as well. It’ll become more lingering, more dominating, have more vitality... or perhaps be able to pierce through even greater amounts of spacetime...” Ning was slowly comprehending the way forward. It would be hard for him to make his Dao any ‘higher’, but he could continuously ‘broaden’ it. As he made use of the mysteries of countless Daos, there would come the day when he gained that moment of sudden insight... at which point, he would undergo a final evolution and become an Omega Autarch! When that happened, he would completely surpass all the other Autarchs.

Alas... Ning himself could tell that he would need an extremely long period of time if he was to succeed. What he lacked most of all right now was just that – time!

“Although I’ll fall, at least I’ll fall while trodding the path towards Autarchy.” Ning didn’t feel the slightest bit dispirited. As he continued upon his path, he would at least have the chance to see the glorious light at the apex from afar. Even though he didn’t have much time left, every extra step he managed to take would bring him a sense of accomplishment and gratification.

......

Time flowed on. Soon, Ning had spent over five hundred million years training within the vortex at the center of the flaming sea. Nuwa and the others, as cultivators, were naturally quite patient. None of them, not even a Daolord like Su Youji, would care about a short period of time like a mere half-billion years.

“What’s going on?” The Blazesun Ruler was seated atop the frozen throne on the altar, narrowing his eyes pensively. Below him stood a total of eight figures. These were his most important generals.

“Domain Ruler,” a stooped and short figure spoke out brightly, “We’ve laid down scouts in all of the likely locations throughout the entire Blazesun Domain. So long as Daolord Darknorth is still here, we should be able to find him. My guess is that he hasn’t left; he’s still in the Blazesun Domain.”

“But we’ve already searched the entire Blazesun Domain. We’ve gone everywhere there is to go and have questioned all the various races. There are no traces of him at all.”

“The Blazesun Domain is enormous. They might’ve fled into some particularly remote region.” The various generals began to argue and debate amongst themselves.

“Shut your mouths,” the Blazesun Ruler barked coldly. Everyone below fell silent right away.

“Could Daolord Darknorth truly have left?” A resentful look was in the Blazesun Ruler’s eyes. He had been lonely for a very, very long time. The only ones who could pose a challenge to him were the Sithe Exalts and the cultivator Autarchs! Alas, the Sithe Exalts had all been imprisoned and weren’t available for sparring, while the Autarchs were completely transcendent. There was no way to find an Autarch who didn’t go out of his way to reveal himself... and even if the Blazesun Ruler did manage to find an Autarch, he would never dare to issue a challenge!

“There is one last possibility.” The Blazesun Ruler’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Could he have gone there?” Even the Blazesun Ruler himself had only discovered that place thanks to a lucky coincidence. Every so often, he would go there by himself and train. He felt certain that he was the only person in the entire Blazesun Domain who had ever discovered it.

“Daolord Darknorth is someone who has mastered an Eternal Omega Dao. He might actually have discovered it as well. I’ll go take a look.” The Blazesun Ruler’s eyes lit up as he said, “I’ll go take a look.” He suddenly rose to his feet, then entered his vast black warship by himself and quickly departed, with all of his subordinates watching.

......

The Blazesun Ruler spent a total of three years as he passed through all the various obstacles. Finally, he arrived.

Rumble... a giant black warship suddenly pierced through a distant membrane and appeared.

“Eh?”

“What’s that?” Nuwa, Patriarch Treewind, Azurefiend, Su Youji, and the other cultivators were either silently meditating or chatting and laughing as they waited for Ning next to the realmship. They could all sense an enormous disturbance and couldn’t help but turn to stare into the skies. There, they saw that enormous warship appear, radiating that aura of terrifying power.

Nuwa and the others all jumped to their feet. “Not good!” Patriarch Treewind’s face turned ashen. “That’s the Blazesun Ruler’s warship.”

“Hahaha!!!” A deep, sonorous laugh rang out like the waves of the ocean, shaking every inch of the vast sea of flames, right down to its very depths. “I knew that Daolord Darknorth had to be hiding here! Hahaha... as I thought, Daolord Darknorth truly lives up to his reputation. He actually found the Wellspring Sea.”

As the laughter echoed throughout the area, the surface of the giant warship flowed apart to reveal an opening. A muscular, black-skinned man came flying out through the opening. The aura emanating from this man caused everyone present to feel a sense of fear. All of the cultivators trembled. None of them would be able to resist him; the only result would be a slaughter.

“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!

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