The Desolate Era

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.”

“What?!” The three were astonished and unable to believe this. A Daolord who had failed the Daomerge? They felt no regard at all for people like that... but one who was close to the Autarchs in power? They couldn’t even imagine how this was possible.

“Hegemons are nothing more than ants to him. He doesn’t even need to strike them in order to kill them! Only someone like the Lonely King of the Icepeak Army is worthy of him attacking, but he only needed to strike a single time to slay the Lonely King,” the Paragon of Pills said. “He is on extremely good terms with the Autarchs, and he was the one who convinced Autarch Skyfeeder to come here.”

Her three ‘brothers’ were truly flabbergasted by this. This Darknorth was truly an incredible figure!

“In fact... big brother,” the Paragon of Pills said with a chortle, “He’s actually one of your honorary disciples.”

“What? Mine?” The muscular man stared at her, his eyes popping wide. “My honorary disciple?”

......

The hidden dimension.

Ever since Ji Ning and the others had discovered that this dimension was divided up into six mortal realms, a ‘Sacred Realm’, and a ‘Purgatory’, they had begun to relax and wander through the mortal realms. The plan was to wait until the Paragon of Pills’ three brothers were revived before risking entry into the Realmgate.

“Congratulations, Paragon of Pills.”

“Congratulations, Mistress.” Ji Ning, Azurefiend, Tia, Flameleft, and Annihilation all offered their congratulations. They even prepared congratulatory gifts.

All of them could clearly sense how the Paragon of Pills’ aura had changed. In the past, she had seemed so solitary, cold, and remote. Now, it was like winter had left and spring had come. She had an uncontrollable smile on her face, and her joy was absolutely infectious.

“Now that I’ve met them again, I truly have no regrets left.” The Paragon looked at Ning. “Darknorth, I have to thank you for everything.”

“If it wasn’t for the insights I gained in the Archaeus Region and the help you provided, Mistress, I might not necessarily have been able to embark upon the path of the Omega Dao,” Ning said. “I wouldn’t have reached my current level of power either.”

If he was allowed to choose again between success in the Daomerge and becoming a Hegemon (via fused Supreme Daos) or failure in the Daomerge but mastering the Eternal Omega Dao, he would probably still choose the latter.

Why? Because... if even the Autarchs were unable to revive Yu Wei, the Omega Dao was the only chance he had! Even though he failed, he would still be an incandescently dazzling figure for over ten thousand chaos cycles. As far as Ning was concerned, this was superior to an eternity of mediocrity.

......

The Paragon of Pills had no further regrets in life. Now, she was able to face all dangers with complete calmness and equanimity, meeting even death with a smile on her face. Ning, however, was even more determined to ensure the Paragon’s safety! She had just reunited with her beloved brothers; if she was to die here, wouldn’t that be a truly painful farewell?

Once Hegemons died, it would be virtually impossible to bring them back to life. Her big brother had only been revived because he had died within an otherverse. If the Paragon of Pills died here, there would be no way she could be brought back.

Whoosh! They soared through the air and quickly reached the location of the Realmgate.

“This here is the Realmgate.” They had spent several months scanning through the memories of many different Daolords. As a result, they were able to recognize it right away.

“Master, we were teleported directly into this dimension. I imagine the true ruler of this dimension was made aware of our appearance long ago,” Azurefiend said. “Prior to this, we were in the mortal realm. There’s nothing in the mortal realm which can pose a threat to us, and so the controller of this dimension was unable to touch us from afar, nor would he dare to actually attack you directly. But once we go through the Realmgate and reach the Sacred Realm, things will be different. We’ll be surrounded by danger.”

“Agreed.” Ning nodded. He had long ago prepared for the likelihood that the master of this place was aware of his presence.

“Travelling to the Sacred Realm is our only hope,” the Paragon of Pills said. “Darknorth, you are so very strong that the Sithe experts hiding in this place would never dare to challenge you to a fair fight. That’s why they haven’t attacked yet! Our records indicate that when Daolords dare to disobey orders from the Sacred Realm, powerful experts will descend to seize and punish them. This means it is possible for Sithe experts to descend upon this place... but they have not! Why? Because they fear you, Darknorth. But you failed your Daomerge, which means that you will eventually die from your truesoul crumbling away. Once that happens, the Sithe will probably attack and kill the rest of us.”

“I’m not willing to spend the rest of my life in these mortal realms either,” Ning said with a chuckle. In a fair fight, not even Sithe Exalts were a match for him. Even if four or five Exalts attacked him, given his speed and agility, if he focused on dodging then they wouldn’t even be able to touch his clothes. The difference in ability between them was enormous!

But if their opponents were aided by Daoguard Towers? That would make this extremely difficult.

“Let’s advance via realmship,” Ning said as he produced his realmship. All six of them entered the realmship. They did this not because they needed it to travel, but because they wanted to benefit from the extra layer of protection it provided. Realmships were extremely sturdy, after all; breaching them was no easy task. action

The Realmgate was a hundred thousand kilometers high and utterly massive. It emanated dazzling light and was shaped like a giant door, and around it space was twisted and distorted into multiple folds.

Swoosh. Ning and the others flew forwards via realmship, protected and surrounded by Ning’s Sword Dao Domain. As they moved closer to the gate, they could sense that the twisted dimensional folds were impeding their advance. To Ning, however, they were like nothing more than a spring breeze, incapable of barring his path in the slightest.

“We’re heading in. Be careful, everyone.” Ning could sense his subconscious warning him of danger, but there was nothing he could do. This was their only chance to escape and survive this place. Delay and buy time? There was no way he could out-delay the Sithe.

The realmship finally flew into the iridescent Realmgate. It quickly made its way completely inside the gate, only to see an extremely stable tunnel which was formed through many layers of folded dimensional space.

Whoosh. The realmship flew through this stable dimensional tunnel at high speeds. Given Ning’s current level of power, he was able to see past all obstacles and make out the awesome aura of the world off in the distance... the ‘Sacred Realm’. The aura of the Sacred Realm was noticeably vaster and more powerful, and it held far more experts as well.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Suddenly, the formerly-stable tunnel began to shatter apart as two strange triangular weapons appeared in the sides of the dimensional folds off in the distance. Two more appeared within the sides of the dimensional tunnel behind Ning as well. It was their appearance which caused the dimensional tunnel to begin to crack.

“Not good.” Ning’s face tightened. He didn’t hesitate at all, immediately expanding his Sword Dao Domain dramatically in size, causing a large amount of sword-light to appear and furiously assault the four triangular weapons.

The four triangular weapons all had sharp edges which shot out rays of light. These rays of light were extremely thin and allowed them to easily tear through space. There was no way Ning’s Sword Dao Domain could resist the four streaks of light; each streak of light represented an enormous amount of energy and power, and all four of them shot out to Ning’s realmship.

“What a terrifying weapon.” Ning immediately willed the realmship to move in an erratic pattern as it flowed through the crumbling and chaotic tunnel, moving from one position to another. The realmship itself was like a sword which was being used to display a truly marvelous sword-art.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! All four rays of light shot past the realmship, not able to touch it at all. “Thank goodness I mastered the Space Sword Dao.” Ning let out a sigh of relief.

They were within a dimensional tunnel; as the tunnel crumbled, space here became increasingly chaotic. Those four triangular weapons had just launched attacks with extremely thin dimensional blades, and by all rights it should’ve been nearly impossible for someone to dodge them unharmed in such a chaotic environment. Ning, however, had achieved just that thanks to his Space Sword Dao.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Those four triangular weapons suddenly expanded dramatically in size as they charged towards Ning’s realmship. Ning could sense the enormous threat they posed. As for Azurefiend, the Paragon of Pills, and the others within the realmship, they could do nothing save watch. They wouldn’t even able to react in time against attacks of this level!

“Get in here.” Ning instantly emerged from the realmship, then drew it back into his estate-world. There was no way he could simply rely on the realmship to deal with those triangular weapons.

Snick. Ning drew a Northbow sword from the sheath on his back. “Hm. I can’t let them get close to me. They seem to possess the ability to self-detonate.” At Ning’s current level, he was able to vaguely see what some future possibilities would be. Thus, Ning suddenly tossed his sword out.

Whooosh! Ning tossed the sword out like a whip, sending a gentle stream of sword-light sweeping out like a beautiful creek. The water glowed in a dazzling manner as it lashed through the air, gently rapping against the surface of one of the triangular weapons. That triangular weapon couldn’t help but be nudged off-course to one side, clashing against one of the other triangular weapons.

“No more playing around.” Ning glanced at the nearly-collapsed dimensional tunnel around him. Ahead of them was the end of the tunnel and the Sacred Realm. He immediately used his sword-arts to forcibly charge through all opposition and make it outside.