The Desolate Era

The world of the Grand Xia. Swallow Mountain. Brightheart Lake.

Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow were being accompanied by their granddaughter, Ji Brightmoon. They had started to journey through the Three Realms, with even Uncle White travelling alongside them as well. As a result, Brightheart Lake was now a bit quieter than it usually was.

Whoosh! The black-robed Ji Ning suddenly descended from the skies.

“Young master.” Autumn Leaf immediately ran over when she sensed his presence.

“Elder sister Autumn Leaf.” The black-robed Ning smiled merrily as he called out to her. “Where are Little Qing and Xiaoyu?”

“The two of them went out to have some fun as well. I have no idea where they went,” Autumn Leaf said.

“All of them have gone out. Why don’t you join them, elder sister?” Ning continued, “Don’t stay at Brightheart Island all the time.”

“Someone has to stay on the island. Who knows when you might end up paying a visit?” Autumn Leaf smiled. “See? You ended up paying a visit today.”

Ning chuckled. There were some words that didn’t need to be said. Autumn Leaf had taken care of him ever since he was small, and the two were even closer than actual siblings.

“Come with me, elder sister.” As Ning spoke, he began to walk towards the inner depths of Brightheart Island. Autumn Leaf followed from behind, and they quickly arrived at one of the inner mountains on the island. Ning stood there halfway up the mountain, then gestured with his hand. Whoosh! A seemingly ordinary Immortal estate suddenly descended upon the mountain.

“Mm.” Ning stared at the gates to the Immortal estate. Moments later, three words suddenly appeared directly above the gates: Three Realms Archives.

“What’s this?” Autumn Leaf was a bit puzzled by what she was seeing.

“From this day forth, this shall be the most important place in all the Three Realms,” Ning said. “This place is filled with countless techniques, divine abilities, and secret arts. All of them are quite formidable, and those who are weak will find it difficult to understand them.”

“Come forth.” Ning waved his hand. Instantly, a muscular golem wielding a shield suddenly appeared. This was Moksha, the golem comparable to a Daolord of the Third Step which Ning had captured when he was in the Sacred Immortal Realm.

“Master.” The golem immediately called out with respect. After breaking through to become a Daolord, Ji Ning had defeated and tamed even the four golems which Emperor Mirrorsnow had bestowed unto him. This completely convinced Moksha of Ji Ning’s power.

“Your appearance will scare everyone on my island. Change into the appearance of an ordinary cultivator,” Ning ordered with a laugh.

“Yes.” Moksha’s body instantly blurred as he transformed into a bald, gray-robed man.

Ning nodded. “From this day forth, you shall guard the Three Realms Archives! No one is permitted to enter this place unless I have given them permission. This woman here is my elder sister, Autumn Leaf. She is permitted to enter the archives and study all of the techniques within it whenever she wishes.” action

“Young master, you can’t just do whatever you want. This will be an important place for all the Three Realms,” Autumn Leaf said hastily.

“I am the creator of the Three Realms Archives. So what if I decide to let you view everything in it right now? Just don’t teach its contents to others,” Ning said. “Right now, there is no specific system or rules for studying in the Three Realms Archives. Later, I’ll chat with my master and set down a few rules. When there are no rules, there’s no such thing as rule-breaking. Later on, though, all of you including Brightmoon and my parents will have to abide by the rules.”

“I understand that much.” Autumn Leaf nodded. Even Ning’s closest family members would have to follow some basic rules. However, they would definitely be given the most latitude, with virtually all of the techniques available for them to study. The only true rule was that they couldn’t teach these techniques to others without a good reason!

This was how things worked in any organization within the Endless Territories. Once your secret techniques were taught to others, it was very possible that unforeseeable and uncontrollable developments would occur.

......

“T-This place... this is a sacred place for studying the Dao.” After Patriarch Subhuti flipped through several of the techniques, he ended up being consumed by them for several days before he regained his normal clarity of mind. The first thing he did was let out an excited sigh.

“Vastheaven Palace built up this collection over the course of countless years. Even in the Endless Territories, a repository like this would be considered a sacred place for cultivators.” Ning smiled. “There are enough techniques here for someone to train all the way to the Samsara Daolord level without pausing. The Three Realms is just a single chaosworld, after all, and I suspect only a few will end up reaching the World level. In the end, very few of us shall end up as Samsara Daolords. I trust that those who do will venture into the Endless Territories and seek out their own fortunes there.”

“Right.” Subhuti’s face was covered with joy. “The Three Realms’ future is absolutely unimaginable. Haha! My disciple, you have established a foundation for the Three Realms. I once thought that after Mother Nuwa left, she would eventually return to us and help us. Who would’ve thought that you got it done before she did?”

Ning said, “I wasn’t able to find any trace of Mother Nuwa in the Endless Territories, and the Badlands Territory and the surrounding territories haven’t seen any powerful female cultivators similar to her appear. My guess is that when she left the Three Realms through that vortex passageway, she was suddenly trapped into a spatial breach that teleported her to a foreign location.

Mother Nuwa, despite having no guidance and no good techniques, had been able to develop her own technique and force her way into becoming a World Goddess! She was definitely every bit as talented as Ji Ning. Once she reached the greater world outside the Three Realms, just a few simple pointers would result in her powers skyrocketing. Logically speaking, she should’ve become a Samsara Daolord long ago. And yet, Ning had found no trace of her whatsoever.

Subhuti had a worried look on his face as well. “Everything is up to destiny. Ugh. For Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, passage through the vortex tunnel will result in almost certain death. Even World Gods will be trapped within spatial tears if they aren’t lucky. We can’t just let our cultivators be trapped here in the Three Realms forever, can we?”

“Do not worry, Master. I spent a few years and used my ability to sense my Primaltwin’s location to blaze a trail from the Badlands Territory to the Three Realms.” Ning smiled as he took out a star map. “Please take a look, Master.”

“From the Badlands Territory to the Three Realms?” Subhuti revealed a look of surprised joy, hurriedly taking the map from Ning’s hands. He was so excited by what he saw, even his white beard began to flutter as he began to roar with laughter. “Disciple, with this route through space the cultivators of our Three Realms shall be able to enter the Endless Territories. Windfiend and I were worrying about this matter just a short while ago. The two of us were planning to explore the Endless Territories after we break through to the World level, but we were worrying about that vortex.”

“Oh, right.” Subhuti immediately said, “This star map is extremely important. Every single person who views it must swear a lifeblood oath to never divulge the existence of the trail you have blazed to others.”

“I absolutely agree,” Ning said. “It’s entirely possible that I might make powerful enemies as I wander through the Endless Territories! Once the Three Realms are revealed, they might suffer reprisals from certain crazed enemies of mine.”

There were some Daolords who were borderline insane, especially the ones who had failed their Daomerge. They would engage in slaughter on such a scale that they might wipe out all of the living things in multiple territories. This wasn’t unheard of! By comparision, wiping out Ning’s homeland in order to take revenge on him was nothing.

“Mm.” Subhuti nodded solemnly.

......

Ning and Subhuti discussed this matter, then set down the rules for allowing the Three Realms to be able to continue to propagate stably in the future. Subhuti and Windfiend both spent a hundred years reading through the Three Realms Archives, and they benefited greatly from it. Finally, they were going to break through to the World level! They could’ve broken through long ago, but the techniques, divine abilities, and secret arts inside the Three Realms Archives were simply too alluring, which is why they delayed for a period of time.

First had come Pangu, Nuwa, and Ning. Now, both Subhuti and Windfiend took that next step and reached the World level. Just a few decades after reaching the World level, they decided to leave the Three Realms together via the route through the primordial chaos which Ning had created to the Badlands Territory.

“Master. Windfiend.” Many of the Immortals and Fiendgods of the Three Realms had come to bid them farewell. As for the black-robed Ning, he said, “The Endless Territories are filled with endless dangers. World-level cultivators are not yet at a level where they can go wherever they want. I recommend you stay in the territories around the Badlands Territory for now and temper yourselves first.”

“Don’t worry. I heard that the Badlands Territory has nearly a hundred thousand chaosworlds as well as many ruins left behind by Daolords. That’ll be more than enough for us to roam through,” Subhuti laughed.

“One of us is a master of spacetime, the other is a master of space. We two old farts might not be particularly talented in other areas, but if we work together we should be able to keep ourselves alive,” Windfiend laughed as well.

The two were both very relaxed. The reason why they had nearly fought to the death in the Three Realms was primarily because Old Man Yuan and Lord Demonheart had been causing trouble in secret. Windfiend had wanted to go out exploring long ago, and Subhuti was also filled with this same desire. Long ago, back when Ning had been very weak, the two had already reached the apex of power; one was the number one spacetime master of the Three Realms, the other was the fastest person in the Three Realms. By now, they had reached even higher levels. If they joined forces, there really were very few World-level cultivators capable of killing them.

“Have a safe journey.”

“Be careful, Subhuti.”

“Master.”

The Immortals and Fiendgods all bade them farewell, then watched as they began their journey into the outside world.

......

Time flowed on.

A flying vessel was soaring through the primordial chaos, with Ning’s true body at the helm. After blazing a path to the Three Realms and handing the archives over to his Primaltwin, he had left and led Su Youji and Pillsaint to the next part of their journey. By now, they had spent over a thousand years on this trip to the nearby Sacred City of the Dao Alliance.

“Right. We should arrive in a bit over two hundred years.” Ning sat on the deck of his flying vessel, staring forwards into the endless void before them.

“Master.” Su Youji suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Hm? No longer training?” Ning looked at her.

“I can sense that I am about to break through and become a Daolord of the Second Step.” A hint of excitement was on Su Youji’s face. “Although I wasn’t as impressive as you, I was still pretty fast, right?”